Oddly enough I didn't have that many problems with combat encounters on my first playthrough.
The only time my party was wiped was the Githyanki fight in the overworld.
1. because I didn't really expect to fight. I was kinda excited to finally see this Creche thing that Lae'zel keeps yapping on about
2. because I wasn't ready for the "teleporting to high ground and multishot" meta they used
There were definitely harder fights on paper in the Underdark but I wasn't quite as unprepared for those.
