User blog comment:Kablanthony/I beat my 2nd boss/@comment-11359140-20151220054216

Get Shadow Armor, its the best pre-hardmode armor before Molten Armor and its Crimson counterpart, also get the Nightmare Pickaxe for mining hellstone later.

For meteorite, you can make the space gun and meteor hamaxe (you'll need an extra axe (not hamaxe) if you're planning on using pine tree blocks for building). Or the Meteor Armor if you do not have sufficient Demonite ore for Shadow Armor.