Bananarang

You never wait for one to come back. Hold the button and you can have a swarm of them in the air at once, which is the entire reason to use it. Any single hit is unremarkable. Ten of them crossing the same patch of sky is not.

Once a banana slows down to turn around it stops caring about pierce limits and starts passing through solid ground. Enemies sitting at the far edge of your throw get hit over and over while it hangs there, and anything hiding just inside a wall is no longer safe. Positioning yourself so the turnaround happens on top of your target is worth more than any prefix you could roll.

Early Hardmode is its window. Flyers that orbit you and crowds arriving from both sides are exactly what a screen full of returning fruit handles, and it stays useful through the mechanical bosses. Melee speed makes them fly farther. Water slows them down and shortens the reach.