Party Builds, what are your favorite party combos?

One more thing that comes to mind: Don't over-value melee!

If you can make the enemies walk through your AoEs like Wall of Fire, Spike Growth, Grease etc, then the often can't hurt you much. So you won't always need a tank and this tactics means that your melees will not get to melee a whole lot. I like to keep one melee waiting for the few that make it out alive out of my AoEs, but that melee better be able to dish out some ranged damage before that happens.

A tank is always safer but I agree with you a good ranged attack is a very effective defense.

What does two-hander mean?

I've started a campaign to try and prove that "underrated classes / archetypes" were actually very powerful, while keeping to myself the restriction of "never more than 2 short rests per long rest, never long rest before I'm really out of everything AND I know I'm close to a tough fight".

So basically so far, putting aside travelling days without any roadbump or anything, I took 2.05 short rests a day (against the first vampire fight I just had to take a short rest to have any chance that was the only time I used a 3rd short rest from memory), and only two extra long rests besides just resting while travelling.

So far on quest for third gem, only fights I ever had trouble with was the two last bosses of Dark castle (first one had to try 4 times before I got that Light also could damage, second one was surprised first time by Cone of Cold going through walls), and the other vampire fight much later in game (needed 2 or 3 attempts, teleport and darkness are a bitch).

Went with Survival Monk, Hunter Ranger, Champion Fighter and Tree Warlock, all point-buy. Every fight was mostly a breeze, just with proper tactics I rarely needed more than a starting Entangle / Spike Growth / Hypnotic Pattern to level the field, sometimes stacking Pass Without Trace to keep Hidden a few turns past the first. And Monk is my MVP among martials, while Warlock still is the core element of the group. Champion sadly didn't get many chances to shine because in the end I rarely set up advantage (if only Ranger had access to Faerie Fire or Entangle...), but the 19 critical did matter a few times still.

However, there are some things I still regret.

- I have ZERO WAY to craft scrolls FOREVER. Ranger nor Warlock have Arcana, and the dedicated feat is far too costly as an investment.

- I have ZERO WAY to use 99% scrolls. Since no Cleric, no Wizard, and very few scrolls for Druid / Warlock spells.

- My only access to Revivify is the Crown itself, FOREVER. I cannot even use Revivify scrolls because those are for Clerics.

Sure, I could just tick the box making scrolls usable by everyone, but I want to stick with "authentic experience". On the bright side, Ranger's Goodberry lifted us through levels 1-5 with only 4 potions used beside that, and all those scrolls will soon be sold for a hefty sum to convert into magic equipment. :)

One more thing that comes to mind: Don't over-value melee!

If you can make the enemies walk through your AoEs like Wall of Fire, Spike Growth, Grease etc, then the often can't hurt you much. So you won't always need a tank and this tactics means that your melees will not get to melee a whole lot. I like to keep one melee waiting for the few that make it out alive out of my AoEs, but that melee better be able to dish out some ranged damage before that happens.

Yup, can confirm I have trivialized lots of fight with thoughtful use of environment, forced movement and damaging hazard. Spike Growth in particular is hilariously strong, but let's be fair there is most probably a bug triggering additional instance of damage after enemy stopped which is totally wrong. Even without that though I make most enemies finally get close to me ripe for a finishing strike.

By the way it's the exact reason why Agonizing Blast is vastly inferior to Repelling Blast whatever level you're looking at it since it can either protect friends by "freeing them from OA" or harming/disabling foes by pushing them in effects / traps / chasms.

Actually, I think the most effective for 80% fights would be a family of Warlocks, half with Sellsword background for armor and going full defense, the other going "crafting" and "accuracy".

Two Tree, one Fiend, one whatever.

One more thing that comes to mind: Don't over-value melee!

If you can make the enemies walk through your AoEs like Wall of Fire, Spike Growth, Grease etc, then the often can't hurt you much. So you won't always need a tank and this tactics means that your melees will not get to melee a whole lot. 

Absolutely agree. 

I recently finished a play-through with a Dex-based Paladin (Halfling), Open Hand Monk (Human), Tree Warlock (Half-Elf), and Sun Cleric (Dragonborn). All point-buy. All four characters had a balance of range and melee attacks: 

1. Pally "dexadin" made ranged attacks with a x-bow then closed to melee dual-wielding shortwords [🛡: studded leather].
2. Monk fired a shortbow (simple weapon) at range and used unarmed/gauntlets in melee [🛡: none].
3. Sun Cleric cast a lot of Sacred Flame (automatic disadvantage on enemy save), Bless, Faery Fire, Hypnotic Pattern, and Wall of Fire, then smacked bad guys with a mace once she got a belt of giant strength [🛡: breastplate+shield].
4. Tree Warlock (Pact of Tome) laid down Spike Growth almost every combat, used Eldritch Blast at range (of course), and cast Shillelagh to hit pretty hard in melee when needed [🛡: studded leather].

The versatility made it a fun party. Like Llacote (above), I thoroughly enjoyed thinking a lot about how to use the terrain and environment to my advantage––choke points, cover, difficult terrain, vertical separation, forced movement off ledges or into hazards, etc. 

Cheers,
SlowChild

P.S. I was playing the Lost Valley DLC in which you can buy a Wand of Identify. For me personally, I would get frustrated being unable to identify (and equip) magic items "in the field." I would not want to spend the time (or the coin) to return to a vendor to identify every single item, potion, etc. discovered while questing. In my subjective opinion, it is important to have either access to the wand or a caster with the Identify spell. 

One of the most brutally efficient parties I've run is

Hill Dwarf Barbarian, Path of Stone. Wanderer background.

15 / 14 / 17 / 8 / 11 / 8

Gave her Enduring Nody and max constitution for an insane 14 hp per lvl.

Human Ranger, Swift Blade. Academic background.

10 / 16 / 16 / 12 / 14 / 9

Dual wielding and archery.

Sylvan Elf Druid, Circle of Balance. Lowlife background.

10 / 16 / 14 / 10 / 16 / 8

Just a very powerful controller and healer.

High Elf Wizard, Greenmage. Sellsword background. 

10 / 16 / 14 / 16 / 10 / 8

A very resilient controller. Gave her shield proficiency too, so she was sitting on 20 AC most of the game.

This party sliced through Lost Valley on Scavenger difficulty like it was nothing. Swap human for half-elf on the Ranger if you want even more optimization.