The Bee's Knees

Load the plainest Wooden Arrows you own. This bow converts them into a line of shots that ignore gravity entirely, so there is no drop to compensate for at any range. Each one still deals its own damage on contact, then bursts into a handful of small homing bees, with a roll for extras on top. Better ammo is wasted here, since the conversion happens regardless.

The bees do the tracking, so you never need to lead a fast enemy. Fire into the floor or a wall near it and let the swarm work. They spend a moment drifting before they lock on, then chase whatever is closest and switch targets if something nearer appears. The one thing that ruins them is liquid: a bee touching water or lava pops instantly, so an arena with either standing around eats most of your damage before it arrives.

There is a quirk worth knowing about thin walls. Firing at a single block thickness to your left or above you can spawn some of the bees on the far side of it. They will never pass through to your right or below you, so the trick only works in two directions.

Individual bees hit weakly, but they land almost continuously and the trickle of knockback keeps small enemies pinned where they stand. That carries this bow well past the boss that dropped it and comfortably into early Hardmode, which very few pre-Hardmode weapons manage. Against the Wall of Flesh it is particularly good, because the bees slip past The Hungry and keep working on the body behind them while your direct fire is being absorbed.

The Hive Pack upgrades a share of every bee into the larger version, which hits harder, moves faster and lives slightly longer. It comes from the same boss and it is the single best accessory this bow can have. Everything else about the bees stays the same, including the water problem and the one-pierce limit.

Unreal is the one to chase. Note that prefixes attach in front of the article rather than the noun, so you will end up carrying something called Keen The Bee's Knees and there is nothing to be done about it. The name is the old phrase for something excellent, and this is one of a family of bee weapons tied to the Queen Bee.