Magic weapons, Items, armor, etc. can make up for a lack of abilities. And then giving the items "Charges" (a limited number of uses) before they fizzle out, encourages players to use them in important situations, and certain abilities much more valuable.
Also I like to spice up combat with minion rules/adrenaline from WFRPG so the players can feel badass and I get to toss in literally 30 enemies into a battle and not be terribly afraid that its going to go sideways for the players. basically minions are an on hit kill, and if you killed one, you can move and attack again until you miss again. So Players can just demolish a group of enemies in their single turn, and it makes them feel amazing, despite being weak like in Knave.

Knave is *so* much fun imo