Getting absolutely decimated in Master HM

[Kneller]

I'm in Master HM for the first time. FWIW, I'm using The Constant seed. I've only gone as far as expert before. I just beat the WoF and am trying to get on top of the situation in HM but I can't make any progress with anything. I'm not really even sure what progress I should be making. It's the very beginning of HM and I can't seem to get any traction to get ahead of the curve. I haven't tried a mechanical boss, yet, because even the regular enemies are giving me a run for my money. I'm setting up Hallowed Mimic fights like boss battles to get some better gear, but I'm fighting these things for days (it takes forever to wear them down) and still getting wiped out before I take one down. My current gear is:

Weapon: Legendary Breaker Sword, Mythical Crystal Serpent, Godly Mythril Repeater, Mythical Bee Gun
Other: Houndius Shootius for a sentry, and Imp Staff for minion backup.
Armor: Shadow set
Accessories: Hand of God, Fairy Wings, Horseshoe bundle of balloons, Terraspark boots, Magniluminesence, Worm Scarf, Titan Glove/Hive Pack/Magic Quiver
Accessory Modifiers: split between Warding and Menacing, whatever hits first on a reforge

HM preparation: I have a lava arena near spawn for pirates and goblins, no problems there. I have a platform arena in a corruption/hallow area. I have a Minecart arena at the dungeon for skeletron. All my NPCs are in their preferred biomes, for the most part, with a spread out pylon network. I always grid my world into sectors, so that's hellevators and subways every 500 ft.

Strategy and impressions: It seems like a lot of things have projectiles now, and spawn rates seem to be higher. I'm basically treating this like a bullet hell game when I'm exposed, so mobility is prime. I'd like the Crystal Assassin set, but I don't stand a chance against Queen Slime. The combination of the Shadow Set, Fairy Wings, Balloons, Boots, and Magniluminescence is the best mobility I can muster. The Bee Gun is for when I have a safe spot and I can use its homing effect to safely pick off mobs when I have the opportunity.

Unless I go whole hog with something like Solar Flare armor and full Warding (and I'm a long ways away from high end armors anyway), I honestly think that defense is basically useless. It's a matter of dying in 1.9 hits versus 1.7 hits. Melee is problematic for anything more than trash mobs. Getting in close, even with the range of the Breaker Sword/Titan's Glove limits mobility. Ranged, on the other hand, takes forever to take anything down, which results in me getting swarmed pretty quickly. Minions seem like a good idea so I can focus entirely on evasion and let minions do the dirty work, but giving up shadow armor for more minion slots results in a noticeable slowdown in mobility. I don't think I can sub in swiftness potions to compensate, since they don't stack with mobility accessories. I can probably afford to lose the Worm Scarf (for all it's worth now), and will when I build an Ankh Shield (almost there).

My thought was to farm Hallowed Mimics to get their gear. I might stand a chance against Queen Slime with the Deadalus Stormbow and Flying Knife, which would let me upgrade to the next level of mobility armor. However, I can't use melee against the Mimic because getting that close is suicide, and ranged is like fighting a tank with a wiffle bat. I'll be fighting the thing for literally two days, in an arena, with full potions, heart/star statues, bask statue, campfires, etc. and will eventually get taken down by something before I take it down.

I know I should be focusing on a class and I'm jumping between them just to see if anything sticks. However, I've been keeping the shadow armor for mobility regardless. I can't afford to slow down at all. I have too many close calls as it is.

And that's really the general theme. It takes forever to kill anything I can kill, and anything I can kill has a decent chance of killing me first. Because it takes so long to take down a single mob with anything but melee, it's very easy to get swarmed. And with melee, I need to get too close for comfort. I've tried googling this for strategies, but haven't found anything that helps. Does anyone have any tips to get over this hump? Thanks!

 

[Aurora3500]

For your armor, I would recommend upgrading to any hardmode armor as soon as possible. Shadow armor doesn't offer as much protection by this point in the game as other armors can give. It's fine if you aren't dedicated to a single class and get something temporarily if your goal is to get Crystal Assassin armor. Cobalt or Mythril I think would help your survivability a little better if you don't have easy access to Titanium or Adamantite now.

A few weapons that are also pretty good for early hardmode include the Shadowflame weapons you can get from goblin invasions. Since you aren't restricting yourself to a single class, you can pick from the knife, bow, or hex doll.

Yoyos such as the Hel-Fire and Amarok also tend to be pretty effective in early hardmode. Another ranged weapon that tends to perform well overall is the Onyx Blaster. Any of these might be good to add to your arsenal and give a better chance of defeating Queen Slime.

Your magic quiver can also be tinkered together with a magma stone to create the molten quiver, or with the putrid scent to create the stalker's quiver. And your Titan's glove can be tinkered with the feral claw to create the power glove, and there are more tinkers that can be obtained from that.

A strategy that works well for the mimics I find is if you go to where you setup a bridge in the Underworld for fighting Wall of Flesh and go to the areas where there are Corruption/Crimson/Hallow above. You can lure biome mimics onto your bridge and it makes fighting them easier compared to finding them randomly while you're exploring. Another alternative is to farm a lot of souls of night/light, craft them into keys, then place a chest in your preferred arena to fight the biome mimics to get the weapons/tools you need

 

[vessal]

I'm in Master HM for the first time. FWIW, I'm using The Constant seed. I've only gone as far as expert before. I just beat the WoF and am trying to get on top of the situation in HM but I can't make any progress with anything. I'm not really even sure what progress I should be making. It's the very beginning of HM and I can't seem to get any traction to get ahead of the curve. I haven't tried a mechanical boss, yet, because even the regular enemies are giving me a run for my money. I'm setting up Hallowed Mimic fights like boss battles to get some better gear, but I'm fighting these things for days (it takes forever to wear them down) and still getting wiped out before I take one down. My current gear is:

Weapon: Legendary Breaker Sword, Mythical Crystal Serpent, Godly Mythril Repeater, Mythical Bee Gun
Other: Houndius Shootius for a sentry, and Imp Staff for minion backup.
Armor: Shadow set
Accessories: Hand of God, Fairy Wings, Horseshoe bundle of balloons, Terraspark boots, Magniluminesence, Worm Scarf, Titan Glove/Hive Pack/Magic Quiver
Accessory Modifiers: split between Warding and Menacing, whatever hits first on a reforge

HM preparation: I have a lava arena near spawn for pirates and goblins, no problems there. I have a platform arena in a corruption/hallow area. I have a Minecart arena at the dungeon for skeletron. All my NPCs are in their preferred biomes, for the most part, with a spread out pylon network. I always grid my world into sectors, so that's hellevators and subways every 500 ft.

Strategy and impressions: It seems like a lot of things have projectiles now, and spawn rates seem to be higher. I'm basically treating this like a bullet hell game when I'm exposed, so mobility is prime. I'd like the Crystal Assassin set, but I don't stand a chance against Queen Slime. The combination of the Shadow Set, Fairy Wings, Balloons, Boots, and Magniluminescence is the best mobility I can muster. The Bee Gun is for when I have a safe spot and I can use its homing effect to safely pick off mobs when I have the opportunity.

Unless I go whole hog with something like Solar Flare armor and full Warding (and I'm a long ways away from high end armors anyway), I honestly think that defense is basically useless. It's a matter of dying in 1.9 hits versus 1.7 hits. Melee is problematic for anything more than trash mobs. Getting in close, even with the range of the Breaker Sword/Titan's Glove limits mobility. Ranged, on the other hand, takes forever to take anything down, which results in me getting swarmed pretty quickly. Minions seem like a good idea so I can focus entirely on evasion and let minions do the dirty work, but giving up shadow armor for more minion slots results in a noticeable slowdown in mobility. I don't think I can sub in swiftness potions to compensate, since they don't stack with mobility accessories. I can probably afford to lose the Worm Scarf (for all it's worth now), and will when I build an Ankh Shield (almost there).

My thought was to farm Hallowed Mimics to get their gear. I might stand a chance against Queen Slime with the Deadalus Stormbow and Flying Knife, which would let me upgrade to the next level of mobility armor. However, I can't use melee against the Mimic because getting that close is suicide, and ranged is like fighting a tank with a wiffle bat. I'll be fighting the thing for literally two days, in an arena, with full potions, heart/star statues, bask statue, campfires, etc. and will eventually get taken down by something before I take it down.

I know I should be focusing on a class and I'm jumping between them just to see if anything sticks. However, I've been keeping the shadow armor for mobility regardless. I can't afford to slow down at all. I have too many close calls as it is.

And that's really the general theme. It takes forever to kill anything I can kill, and anything I can kill has a decent chance of killing me first. Because it takes so long to take down a single mob with anything but melee, it's very easy to get swarmed. And with melee, I need to get too close for comfort. I've tried googling this for strategies, but haven't found anything that helps. Does anyone have any tips to get over this hump? Thanks!

Get a minion even if you're not a summoner it's just free damage and will save you.
Also avoid the sky's at all costs as wyvern hit for nearly 300. No armor will withstand that if you need wings. You can use a high croud controling weapon to easily kill it before it can hit you.
Also the mechs will be the worst part of master mode. However with frog gear and good wings you can just circle prime similar to regular skeletron

 

[Kneller]

For your armor...

A few weapons that are also pretty good for early hardmode include the Shadowflame weapons you can get from goblin invasions. Since you aren't restricting yourself to a single class, you can pick from the knife, bow, or hex doll.

Yoyos such as the Hel-Fire and Amarok also tend to be pretty effective in early hardmode. Another ranged weapon that tends to perform well overall is the Onyx Blaster. Any of these might be good to add to your arsenal and give a better chance of defeating Queen Slime.

Your magic quiver...with the putrid scent to create the stalker's quiver.

A strategy that works well for the mimics...

For the armor, I was looking at the numbers and figured to defensive bonuses were negligible. What's an extra 15 points of defense when I'm taking 150 damage per hit. However, I was looking over the titanium armor, and that barrier would probably do me some favors. I think I can just crate fish for the ores for this. It's safer than mining. I'm guessing I want a new mount to make up for the loss of mobility, though. What's good, fast, and easy to get early.

I'm not sure how to bring on more goblin invasions. I only have 9 tattered cloths, and I don't see scouts anymore. I've had a number of pirate invasions since HM, but nothing with goblins.

I don't really understand how to use yoyos, particularly how to control them well. I did look at the Onyx Blaster, but I haven't had any luck getting dark shards. My WoF corruption hit my one and only desert and it's pretty crazy go nuts with mobs. I'd love the stalker's quiver to lower spawns and buy myself some breathing room. But, fighting a corrupt mimic for the materials is as bad as fighting a hallowed one. I'll try your hellbridge strategy. I think I can run faster than a mimic and shoot behind me.

Should I be focusing on certain accessories?

Get a minion even if you're not a summoner it's just free damage and will save you.
Also avoid the sky's at all costs as wyvern hit for nearly 300. No armor will withstand that if you need wings. You can use a high croud controling weapon to easily kill it before it can hit you.
Also the mechs will be the worst part of master mode. However with frog gear and good wings you can just circle prime similar to regular skeletron

I do keep a minion going. The imp is better than nothing, but I was thinking of farming for a pirate staff since invasions are so easy with the right arena. I've already taken down a number of wyverns (hence the fairy wings). I've pretty much figured out a dodge strategy for this and they aren't too tough as long as not much else is on the screen.

Tell me more about the frog gear and how that helps especially if you already have a hook. There's a lot of competition for accessories at this point so frog gear wasn't even on my radar.