Spider Greaves

Spider nests are the whole story. They generate in the Cavern layer as cobweb-choked pockets, and the Black Recluse and Wall Creeper that live in them are the only source of Spider Fangs. One nest rarely covers a full set, so plan on finding a second or camping the first and letting it repopulate. The set also goes together at a Hardmode anvil now, so you can no longer rush it before the Wall of Flesh the way older playthroughs did.

This is the set that lets summoning carry a fight instead of adding chip damage on the side. The extra minion slots matter more than the damage bonus does, because every additional minion adds its full output again while the percentage only scales what you already had. Fill the slots first, then worry about the rest.

The defense is also decent for how early you can get it, which counts for more than it sounds like. Summoners spend fights moving and dodging rather than trading hits, and the set is generous enough that a mistake mid-dodge is survivable.

Treat it as the Hardmode continuation of Bee armor. Both follow the same idea and both are built around bugs, but this one pushes general summon damage instead of whip strikes, so a build that was tagging enemies with a whip can shift toward standing back and letting the minions grind. It holds up through the mechanical bosses without complaint. The summoner gear that arrives after those fights outclasses it, and nothing before them does.