Venom Arrow

Both halves of it come off a shop counter, which nothing else at this tier can claim. Every other hardmode arrow ties you to a farm or an ore vein. If you are a ranger who wants a full stack sitting in the ammo slots before a boss, this is the one you can solve with coins and no travel.

The venom debuff is good and the base hit is the highest going, but that does not always translate into the most damage on the board. Holy Arrows drop stars, Ichor Arrows strip defense off the target, and Luminite Arrows echo. Against one big armored enemy the ichor route usually comes out ahead.

Bows that turn every arrow into their own projectile still read the base arrow underneath. Feeding them these gives you the highest starting point available, which is the situation where this arrow is outright the correct answer rather than the convenient one.