Before I respond, I should warn you that my take on the Summoner Class is wildly different from a larger portion of the Terraria Community; we rarely see eye-to-eye on anything Summoner related. Regardless of this being the case, the information I can provide will be very effective, there's certain caveats to Summoner Class that can easily be overlooked in 1.4, because of how tools and items have been oddly sorted/ moved around. 
Is it possible to get this high reward before endgame? Because right now it doesn't really feel like I'm getting much payoff for using synergistic items. Even outside of the 1 damage scenarios (and if enemies in expert/master have more defense, this would become more common?), it doesn't exactly feel like a spec that crushes.
When it comes to Whip Summoner/ Summoner Purist
specifically, I'd suggest asking
@Shyguymask , as he seems the most knowledgeable about advanced techniques and some of the more obscure Min-Maxing buffs/ bonuses. I'm a bit more practical and nuanced, I come from a position of "anyone can do it, just grab A, B and C; you're good to go".
That said, Summoner Class,
in most cases, encourages you to engage with Fishing. It's more of a slower-paced,
goal-focused playstyle, because there's quite a few boxes you'll want to check before you go hunting. If any of this is starting to feel "unappealing", feel free to ignore the rest of what I have to say, because it doesn't get any more
laissez-faire from here... Summoner Class is a different beast from all the other Classes,
which normally rewards you for just moving in a straight line, Summoner is a bit more of a game of ping-pong.
Here's a short list of items you'll want before you go exploring/ cave diving:
- Sailfish Boots
- Tsunami in a Bottle/ Balloon Pufferfish
- Any Fish to be Cooked for "Well-Fed".
- Frog Leg if possible, but don't hold your breath!
It's difficult for me to imagine playing it as a hybrid because so much of the spec is tied to armor, and it seems more and more often as I progress, set bonuses. Were it possible to hybridize without losing so much capacity, I suspect I wouldn't have much to complain about...
One of the things I'd suggest, especially since it's been greatly improved in 1.4, is investing into DoT (damage) weapons/ items. Though many of these items seem "gimmicky" in the hands of other Classes, Summoner benefits greatly from using them, because you'll
almost-always be doing DMG, even passively, which means you can afford to "set-up", swap weapons and focus on movement instead of "accuracy".
I wouldn't get too caught-up in "set bonuses" and trying to make things fit together nicely,
with a shiny red bow, more then just exploiting all of the possible ways you can effectively do DMG, with whatever item(s) you choose; Flasks, Magma Stone, Mage Sentries (Crimson Rod,
Clinger's Staff),
Bone Helm,
Bone Glove etc.
I got the deerclops sentry. It's... ok against like pre-HM zombies, and just kind of garbage against anything that moves faster. Just like minions, it doesn't lead targets, but unlike minions with a ranged attack, you don't get volley fire and it can't move closer (and has a warm up time when placed). Minions seemed like the much better investment and the flame turret from the old one's army was even less damage, but not any better against things that aren't slow moving. I could see situational uses for the aura damage or mines, but it's harder to envision them as general purpose.
Sentries,
in my experience, require you to think about "leashing enemies/ Bosses", more than "running backward" or "face-tanking". I think this is where their use seems to be the most divisive, because I can only assume that the range most Sentries are effective in, is a range most player aren't comfortable fighting in, which will largely be left up to taste and preference.
I don't personally think it's totally necessary to use Sentries as Summoner, but it does help a LOT, if loss on DPS is a common complaint. One of the most obvious benefits you'll see, using the "complete set" is with Spider Armor/ Weapons. All i can say, is that this rule never changes, it's always true, but it depends on personal comfort, which won't really help much in this case.
Is there a Flinx set? I got the coat but at the time 2 finches didn't exactly seem to be crushing it for even weaker enemies, and even crafting the best staff I could, the boss fights pre-bee armor were very difficult, at least for me...
I guess you can say
you heard it from me first, but no Summoner should ever be spelunking without their Food Items and
Summoner Potions! Your standard should've been
three Minions, not two, made possible by 1.4; two Minions is/ was the 1.3.5 standard, which was also sparingly practiced by most.
Again, it all goes back to Fishing, your character should be pretty efficient at it by this point, so you and the Angler should be
best friends. Also, the addition of "Township" is invaluable to Summoner, because you'll be able to get more
bang-for-your-buck, buying and selling off items you get by Fishing, and passively traversing the World, as your Minions do all the dirty work
(Summoners are money-makers in 1.4)!
Bee armor + hornet staff was definitely a big power boost and helped a ton pre-HM. And even now that I have the optic staff, I still miss how little the bees got stuck compared to the twins. And I made sure to pick up the pygmy necklace pre-HM too.
At this point I'd recommend mixing-up/ matching your Minions, this'll be easier with:
- Summoner Potions
- Bewitching Table
- obviously Pygmy Necklace (pre_HM)
For example, try summoning Spiders (x3) and Twins (x2), and see how it feels. Once you experiance how effective it an be, you'll be coming up with your own strategies in no time!
I can't really speak to how it was in the past, though. I've only played it as it is now because I've only had terraria for like 2 weeks now...
Yeah... you're actually in a great spot, because you don't have any baggage. It's just a shame that, IMHO, they sorta "overextended" with Summoner Class in 1.4+, when they actually met a good
sweet-spot with Summoner in the initial 1.4.0 release,
as far as it being "intuitive but obscure" goes...
I really don't mind the hands on part, though. I think tag damage is a great idea. Just... tying it to a melee weapon seems to be at odds with the "stay far away and safe" playstyle the survivability encourages, and even if you do take the risk and get up close, and have synergizing prefixes on the staff and minion count/damage boosting accessories, it's not exactly feeling high payoff. At least not in my experience so far. That just keeps things from taking utterly forever. I can only guess at endgame or some point between there's a pretty significant power boost if veterans all agree it's strong.
...this is where "whip-stacking" synergy comes into play, which you'll have to talk to Shyguymask about, LoL. All I can tell you is that, you can get started almost immediately, if you have Snapthorn and Spinal Tap (both pre-HM Whips).
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