: Is a bandit ambush a fatal, cliche mistake? Background I've planned the chapter I'll write tomorrow. It features a bandit ambush! That's so exciting! Wow! The sickly scent of blood, the glistening

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As has been mentioned in other answers to this question, if we already know the over-powered-ness of your knight, then we need to learn something new from this fight, or something has to change: either the physical circumstances for their journey or something within them.

Physical consequences

Someone already mentioned that the fight could leave one of "good guys" wounded, resulting in a challenge for the group after the fight. Or someone could die, or their (enter important object) is broken, and so on.

Psychological consequences

Another option is to let the Hero(/group) experience something that changes her(/their) mind about their mission, their look on good vs bad -guys, violence, relations, words, power, genders, beliefs, clothing... You name it. Maybe their goals are questioned. Maybe they have gained valuable knowledge in achieving their goals.

In general

As with most in life; repetition quickly becomes tedious. Therefore, summarize what we already know, and focus instead on what is new/different.

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Does your ambush have a purpose in driving the goal of the protagonists, or create new information for the reader?

Action shouldn't be there just to 'be' there. You could be introducing a new secret weapon that these bandits got ahold of, a new faction that appeared that poses a threat or makes a lead towards the protagonist's goal, or it could be that they are just there to display how much the protagonist has improved after a training session or learning a new power.

A story won't be interesting if you just have mindless battles that just get in the way of the protagonists. Like you've probably heard by now, Everything has been done before, however, it depends on how you take advantage of it for advancing your story. You can have a cliche such as the main character being a chosen one that's bullied by others, but as long as you can make it interesting and lead in your story in a unique way - the readers won't care.

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If cliches were a mistake they wouldn't be cliches. Depending on what your goal is, what you want from your work and what your definition of success the cliche might help you get the results you want.

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I am with Mark Baker on this one. Looks like you have already established the level of competence of your character, so showing it again would be redundant and would likely annoy me as a reader.
What you can use the situation like this for is to introduce a twist of sorts—your good guys win (of course), but someone gets hurt, and can't walk or ride for a while—or show a previously hidden character trait—she suddenly shows mercy, or the opposite, etc.
The idea is: do not repeat yourself, it makes your story boring, even with the full of action fight scene.

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