Baconfry
Terrarian
Katana: dropped by King Slime (25%)
Pulse Bow: crafted from Shroomite Bar x18
Orange Zapinator: crafted from Gray Zapinator, Illegal Gun Parts, Soul of Fright x20
Bananarang: 100% drop rate from Clown (but only drops 1 at a time)
Beam Sword: replaces Titan Glove on Mimic drop table
Titan Glove: dropped by Rock Golem (50%)
Flamethrower: replaces Dual Hook on Mimic drop table
Dual Hook: drops from Wall of Flesh (independent 33% drop chance)
Chik: crafted at Iron/Lead Anvil instead of Mythril/Orichalcum Anvil
Slap Hand: dropped by Skeleton Merchant (12.5%)
Uzi: dropped by Dune Splicer (1%)
Gatligator: dropped by Sand Shark and all variants (1%)
A thematically appropriate reward from a boss that also drops the critical strike-themed Ninja set.
Pulse Bow: crafted from Shroomite Bar x18
Pulse Bow always seemed out of place as a rare reward from the Traveling Merchant, especially because it seems to be Shroomite-themed. It makes sense as a craftable item considering that it's not even that good.
Orange Zapinator: crafted from Gray Zapinator, Illegal Gun Parts, Soul of Fright x20
An arguably overtuned item for early Hardmode. This solves the issue of the Gray Zapinator becoming unobtainable, re-tiers the Orange Zapinator, and also breathes some purpose into the most useless boss soul.
Bananarang: 100% drop rate from Clown (but only drops 1 at a time)
Let's be honest: without the wiki, no one will find out that this stacks to 10 unless they're playing Journey mode. This change gives a more consistent feeling of progress.
Beam Sword: replaces Titan Glove on Mimic drop table
Titan Glove: dropped by Rock Golem (50%)
Flamethrower: replaces Dual Hook on Mimic drop table
Dual Hook: drops from Wall of Flesh (independent 33% drop chance)
Mimic drop table has always been weird, with 1 magic weapon amongst a whole bunch of accessories. With this change, Mimics would drop a melee, magic, and ranged weapon.
Beam Sword and Flamethrower were chosen to become Mimic drops because they are obscure and kind of ty, but not so ty that you wouldn't be happy to obtain them if they dropped really early in Hardmode. Flamethrower doesn't even need a stat adjustment.
Rock Golem was chosen as the new recipient of Titan Glove because it's a strong enemy that feels like it should drop something good, but doesn't.
Beam Sword and Flamethrower were chosen to become Mimic drops because they are obscure and kind of ty, but not so ty that you wouldn't be happy to obtain them if they dropped really early in Hardmode. Flamethrower doesn't even need a stat adjustment.
Rock Golem was chosen as the new recipient of Titan Glove because it's a strong enemy that feels like it should drop something good, but doesn't.
Chik: crafted at Iron/Lead Anvil instead of Mythril/Orichalcum Anvil
Chik was meant to be a weaker RNG-free alternative to Gradient, Amarok, and Hel-Fire, but thanks to the anvil requirement it usually ends up being obtained later than any of those three.
Slap Hand: dropped by Skeleton Merchant (12.5%)
Who even goes underground during a Blood Moon? The Slap Hand is obviously a joke item, so it can join the other joke items like Happy Grenade and Ale Tosser.
Uzi: dropped by Dune Splicer (1%)
Gatligator: dropped by Sand Shark and all variants (1%)
The Underground Desert currently doesn't offer enough rewards in early Hardmode to be worth visiting, especially during a Sandstorm. Meanwhile, the Gatligator and Uzi are very strong guns with obtainment methods that don't make much sense. Two plus two equal four.