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Hey everyone, I've been running 4e for about 10 sessions or so. I've got five players, and their characters just hit third level.

We play for about 5 hours each session, and despite all of us being pretty savvy gamers and using a lot of handy tips and shortcuts, we are lucky to get through 3 encounters per session (usually two at their level and one slightly more challenging), though they can usually go 5-6 encounters between extended rests. I don't have slow or analysis-prone players, and I like to think I'm pretty on the ball as a DM.

The challenge? My group is a tough nut to crack. Only twice in 8 sessions has anyone been KO'd -- and even then never in any real danger of dying. Rarely is anyone in the group in any peril. And combats seem to take forever.

The group is comprised of:
A 2H weapon human fighter (defender)
An all-defense, all the time human paladin (defender)
A max mobility halfling rogue (striker)
A max heal human cleric (leader)
A tactical dwarf warlord with wizard cross-class (leader)

The fighter has a utility to self-heal and has tons of surges and a high surge value. The paladin, cleric and warlord can all provide a sick amount of healing. The paladin and cleric also have buffs that can jack the group's AC and defenses into the high teens or low 20s (especially if they go off at the same time, since their bonuses stack) for one encounter per day. The warlord's abilities provide an incredible amount of maneuverability and tactical flexibility.

While I'm very pleased the group has gelled and plays a smart tactical game, I'm concerned they may slowly lose interest (or that I might lose interest) if all the battles seem to become inevitable, inexorable victories.

And the battles are not quick. The rogue does decent damage, but aside from the rogue and the 2H fighter, it's rare for anyone in the party to deal more than 10 damage unless they trigger a daily.

At first I thought adding minions would help - since they don't really have a good way to deal with them (other than the fighter cleave and warlord's wizard cross-class thunderwave encounter power). But the minion attack bonuses are so low, as is their damage, that they just slow the game down w/o providing a tangible threat.

Brutes have really high hp, which takes forever to whittle away, and don't really do much damage in return (and since the party doesn't have a traditional "squishy" character, there's no one to really send the brute off to camp). Soldiers are pretty much in the same boat, just slightly fewer hit points.

I seem to have the most success with artillery or enemy controllers, since my group lacks good ranged combat. But even then, it's usually one or two volleys, then the group closes. Once the enemy is engaged, any damage the baddies did has long since been healed, and it's a slow, arduous slug-fest as the group grinds away at the enemy.

Now, I'm not looking for a TPK, or necessarily looking to "punish" my players for playing smart and using strong tactics. But I would like to provide them with more challenging encounters. I really think that throwing them a curveball will keep them on their toes, and show them that while extremely effective, they aren't invincible.

Suggestions? Ideas? Thanks in advance!

One thing just off the top of my head:

While your party composition makes a slog out of combat, it does give you the opportunity to try some new, daring things in combat as the DM.

Make the terrain work for the combat - not necessarily for or against the party or bad guys - but keeping an interesting and varied playing field is one way to mix things up in combat and keep things fresh.

You might try adding a from-the-side ambush once your team has engaged the enemies in front of them. Traps mid-combat are also a surprising and nice variety. A few swinging blades going at regular intervals and hewing through the board mixes things up and keeps people on their toes.

Along with keeping the playing field fresh, make sure to mix up your mobs. With a melee-focused group, make them have to wade through the chaff to get at the artillery that's pinging them from the walls.

Sorry to say, though, that combat is always going to be a slog with only 1 striker. That doesn't mean it has to be boring.

Are you still trying to hit them with what you'd imagine to be in the game world, or have you given up on the imagination part and are just pulling out monsters that'll do the job, then perhaps making up some reason for them afterward.

If you've been playing that way from the start, fair enough. But if you've just started giving up the imagination part cause you want to stress 'em, your shooting yourself in the foot.

Given the low damage output of the PCs, I'd think that a few brute-role critters screening artillery would be pretty effective at wearing them down. Swarms are definitely a strong choice against them as well. A mobility-controller and/or hampering terrain might let you split them up, especially if the rogue gets greedy about flanking.

Realistically, with 2 defenders and 2 leaders, you shouldn't be forcing death saves most fights. Play for gradual healing surge expenditure, and try to put a clock on the adventure so that they can't take extended rests at will. Failing that, throw ambushes at them while they're napping, or the occasional back-to-back encounter where they don't have time for a short rest between fights.

And honestly, three fights in 5 hours doesn't seem all that slow to me, especially at low heroic where the PC options are fairly limited. If your group's tactics are solid, you can also start hitting them with more N+2 or even N+3 encounters and fewer N or N+1 fights. The DMG encounter guidelines are a bit on the easy side for competent, cooperative players, and your party has an unusually durable composition. Use the extra XP in the budget for more monsters (or elites) rather than higher level ones and you should give them a challenge without TPKing them.

Using more overlevel encounters also has the side effect of letting the PCs level faster, which is a good thing at low heroic.

Jeez, guys - it doesn't matter to you whether there would be a swarm or not in the game world? Just force one in to do the job?

If you haven't been playing with any reference to a game world or whatever, ok, that's fine, whatever. But if you have - as I said, to start forcing monsters in is to screw up your connection to an imaginary world. I mean jeez, you want players to roleplay their characters but a GM who is forcing a swarm in when it wouldn't happen is a GM not roleplaying the imagined world*

* and as I said before, if you haven't been doing this/don't want to, that's cool. This is only for people who do want to but might be erring.