Expert Crystal Assassin Armor

Recently did expert playthroughs as Mage only and Ranger only, and found that once I got into Hardmode and quickly obtained the CAA that I wasn't upgrading my armor until after Golem for both characters. It's that pretty standard? It's such an average armor set in classic so it felt weird sticking with it for so long in expert but the dash alone made it so hard to move past until I got into the post-golem dungeon.