Best possible save or suck scenarios against a Legendary Save Opponent

[MarkVIIIMarc]

For a party with a Bard, Wizard and Cleric (and two martial characters) how do we decide if we are better off battling down a bad guy's Legendary Resistances until we can Polymorph or Banish him or whatevwr as opposed to going after a hit point kill?

Is this a problem for Levels 14 and higher characters? How do you all decide?

[Undyne]

For a party with a Bard, Wizard and Cleric (and two martial characters) how do we decide if we are better off battling down a bad guy's Legendary Resistances until we can Polymorph or Banish him or whatevwr as opposed to going after a hit point kill?

Is this a problem for Levels 14 and higher characters? How do you all decide?

Best Case? Force dangerous saves early- High level Fireballs, Banishments, and other deadly spells. With 3 casters, if each of you throw a Save Spell in the first round, most legends have only 3 uses of Legendary Resistance, then you should hit with a high power save, like Banishment or Polymorph. But using damage typically is a good idea since it'll likely stay dead. I'd say do a balance of damage and saves during each battle.

[Keravath]

Do you have enough characters with something to cast that ideally targets a non-proficient save and whose effects are significant enough to force the creature to use a legendary save?

It's not an easy calculation to make. Most of the fights I have been involved with against creatures with legendary saves reverted to defending against their spells and burning down their hit points. Smiting paladins can help alot with that endeavor. The main reason for this is the action cost of trying to use up legendary saves vs the possible damage that could be done.

This is especially true if the casters use a save for half damaging spell. Does the target use a legendary save to reduce the damage? Can the caster achieve both goals at the same time? (Doing damage and possibly burning legendary saves?). This approach does damage and only incidentally attacks their saves but if the target doesn't use a legendary to reduce damage they can end up taking significnt damage.

Due to this, using save or suck spells to burn off the target's legendary saves can be a sub-par plan, especially if they target a proficient save.

[Hail Tempus]

For a party with a Bard, Wizard and Cleric (and two martial characters) how do we decide if we are better off battling down a bad guy's Legendary Resistances until we can Polymorph or Banish him or whatevwr as opposed to going after a hit point kill?

Is this a problem for Levels 14 and higher characters? How do you all decide? Generally speaking, if the question is, how do we burn through legendary resistance, the answer is "don't" a lot of times. Creatures with LR also tend to have pretty high saves to begin with, so you're going to have a tough time getting them to fail their saves in the first place. Watching your high level spell slots go to waste as the boss saves repeatedly is really frustrating as a caster.

Fights like that require a change of tactics. The casters are better off focusing on buffing their party members with spells like Haste, Polymorph and Fly, and using other spells slots to focus on damage on the boss. And a lot of boss creatures have abilities that can do things like restrain, frighten or otherwise incapacitate other party members. The casters need to make sure they have the spell slots for restoration and dispel spells to keep your barbarian and paladin in the fight.

You should also think outside the box. For example, Telekinesis requires the target to make a Strength check, not a save, to avoid being restrained, so LR wouldn't apply.

[Man_Over_Game]

You got two choices:

Spam low-cost, high-impact saves (knocking Prone, Monk Stuns, Tasha's Hideous Laughter) and then follow up with a finisher.
Sneak in effects that don't require a save, like environmental effects, walls, or Maze.

[malachi]

You got two choices:

Spam low-cost, high-impact saves (knocking Prone, Monk Stuns, Tasha's Hideous Laughter) and then follow up with a finisher.
Sneak in effects that don't require a save, like environmental effects, walls, or Maze.


Or what Undyne / Keravath said, and use effects that still have an effect on a save (typically, these are going to be damage-based, which has the added effect of dealing damage and not simply being a wasted turn if they DO save or use one of their LRs)