I don't think you need l33t builds for this game, or cheese, or even necessarily preparation most of the time.
I've watched lots of people playing this on Twitch and YouTube, and honestly the people who struggle do so because they just continually make terrible decisions in combat.
"Hmm, I'm standing right next to an enemy, and it's too dark to see them, so I have a 15% chance to hit with my ranged attack. Oh wells, guess I'll just attack anyway."
"Two of my party members are downed, I'm a healer. Oh wells, guess I'll just cast Sacred Flame and then end my turn."
"All the enemies are up high, and they can hit us easily while we can't hit them for shit. Oh wells, guess I'll just stand right here in place, in their killbox, and complain about low hit chances and overtuned encounters."
a few of those issues are caused by the questionable house rules too to be fair.
