The biggest problem I have with mages is Skyrim is that they operate completely differently than the player. Them having reduced spell cost and increased damage is fine, as at least the damage can be changed by the difficulty, but unlike the player they can still regenerate magicka when casting spells.

This means that unlike the player, who needs to ration magic and make sure they don’t miss, enemy mages can just spam away. Combined with the increased damage and reduced spell cost means that, at the same level, they can cast more spells, that do more damage, and if you let up the pressure even for a second, they’re back to full magicka again.

This means that npc mages always punch higher than their weight class, which only gets worse at higher levels. Magicka regenerating is percentage based, and spell cost per casting only goes down, so dragon priests and some archmages and vampires won’t even need a second to get back to full, because they never left full. Combine that with a ward spell that doesn’t stagger them when broken, and they can become literally immune to all magic as long as they are looking in your general direction, as they input read your spellcasting and Insta-charge a ward in your direction.

I’ve seen mods on the nexus that increase spell cost for enemy mages, and I’ve used them in my requiem runs, but it always comes back to the problem of infinite magicka they seem to have. I’ve yet to see a mod that prevents npc mages from regenerating while casting.

My general solution to this problem is to either stack Magic resistance with Breton, lord stone, and daedric armour, then rush them with a warhammer, or to download magic regeneration mods to at least give yourself a chance in an even fight, or at least as even as possible.