Xylia
Terrarian
Personally, I think Molten deserves a buff. It grants a few more points of defense and 17% melee damage, whereas with a good mage set-up you can have nearly 40% extra magic damage, along with 80 extra mana, and more crit. Diamond Robe with Wizard Hat and Meteor Leggings, you should try it out. Magic Power Potion alone gives 15% extra magic damage, nearly the same damage bonus that molten gets. Mages also can attack from a distance, able to kill enemies before they even get near. You can easily survive a Solar Eclipse by standing still, just clicking left and right occasionally with a Demon Scythe. No pre-hardmode melee set can even come close to compare.
Anyway, as said above, this would be 5 mage armors and 1 of the others if this is made a magic armor. It should be a ranged or minion one.
Are you factoring in the ridiculous damage of a Night's Edge when you say that Magic setups out-damage melee ones pre-Hardmode?
Molten Armor + Night's Edge = LOL
It hits incredibly hard. And then, if you should get a Cutlass in early hardmode (you can do this literally in the very first day of hardmode; go to the beach, kill jellyfish and sharks until a pirate map drops, dig yourself an arena where you can't get hit and summon the pirates), then it is even MORE ridiculous.
Meanwhile, most magic weapons Pre-Hardmode don't have anywhere near that much damage. They need all of that +Damage to really do much. Meanwhile, I'm swinging away with that Night's Edge which works well into Hardmode, while those awesome magic setups you describe are doing single digits because of enemy defense getting too high.