Make Tactical, Memorable Combat (Patreon)

 Are those little demigods some call PCs running all over your encounters  without breaking a sweat? Maybe they've even had the audacity to call  the encounters “easy.” 5th edition has really ramped up the power levels  of the players, and as the DM you may find it difficult to meaningfully  challenge them. You can always spend more XP on your encounter budget  to increase the challenge, but giving all your combats the “Deadly”  difficulty also makes the fights a lot more swingy, where a couple bad  rolls can spell a sudden TPK. Instead, try adding the following tactical  elements to your fight which has the dual benefit of making combat more  challenging without increasing the encounter budget, and engages your  players more by forcing them to cooperate and pay attention even when  it's not their turn.