Clearly I have gone into this fight unprepaired, but is she meant to be this much out of proportion with the rest of the game?
After many attempts, all with the same outcome, I raised my health with the command console from 150 to 1500 in order to survive long enough to see how to damage her.
She does 960 damage in one hit.
In spite of me being a Breton with Dragonskin & 40% Cameleon.
Even when I managed to get a Gods Fire spell off, it didn't even touch her, nor do magic weapons.
Apparently she is leveled (I'm on level 19) so if I go back later, she will be harder.
Has something interfered with her stats?

She is a leveled mob, so yeah going to be a hard fight.

Yes, but according to her stats on the wiki page, her attack spell "only" does 100-200 poison, 100-200 frost damage, & 100-200 fire damage.
That's 600 with a perfect shot (aside from my 40% cameleon & 50% shield from Dragonskin)
Yet I went from 1500 health to 540 in one hit. Am I missing something?
It made me think one of the patches had altered her already over the top stats.
Leveling shouldn't change how powerful her spells are, should it?

your chamelon and shield don't affect spell hits.

Your birthsign and race can determine just how hard that spell hits. An altmer with the apprentice birthsign for instance is going to feel the pain a lot more than say an orc.

I'm a Breton born under the sign of the Mage, If anything I should be taking less than the maximum destruction magic damage. ( the figures just don't seem to add up)
Am I right in thinking if I opened the secret door at level 19 she will have 2600 health & 6700 magicka (providing she doesn't activate the Robe of the Lich)
I'm glad I never come along at level 40.

I guess my mage just got a bit ahead of herself after taking out Dandras Vules, the Goblins, & the Black Dart gang in one night, she thought she was indestructable.
I hope everyone doesn't die of the plague before I get strong enough to take her on.

It's possible she reflected your spell back on you and that plus her spell hit you up the 960.

Ah yes, the old reflect it back on the caster trick, I should have guessed.
She's a tricky one.

Without a doubt the toughest single opponent in the game in my opinion. Good luck trying to defeat her with magic alone! -.- Or any way at all, really...

One chance is to come back to her later. Make sure you open the secret door at, what, level 19, then come back at level 30, and she still should "only" be leveled as if you were still level 19.

she's particularly hard for mages, she's highly resistant to elemental damage. try using spells that are counted just as 'magic', like damage health/absorb health. also couldn't hurt to throw in some summons if you can. try things that have reflect like dremora and golden saints.

as for your buffs, bretons resist magic is everythinng except elemental and poison magic, so it's no use to you there. go back to the city and get some elemental resist scrollls/potions. chameleon just makes you a better thief, nothing more. dragon skin is a physical damage shield

She has 600% Magicka resistance, are any of those spells going to work?

well we've learned two things

1. my memory is teh poop

2. summons ftw

go create a couple of 20 second long summon dremora spells (give them unique names ie summon dremora 20 a/summon dremora 20 and keep summoning as needed, avoiding her spells

I'd say that title goes to a certain impossible-to-hit wood elf.

GR does not resist fire. I have a ring enchanted to do 100 points of fire damage on target in 50 foot radius and restore 100 points of health on self per cast. I wear the Dragonbone Cuirass which gives me immunityy to fire, just in case it is reflected or I am too close. I used Vivec’s soul to charge the ring and thus can cast about 100 times in a row with it. Bazinga!

Note that Reflected spells can't be "re-reflected". I used a reflect item to allow him to damage himself. Actually, the loss of Fatigue was more serious than the loss of hitpoints, when I encountered him, and I had to resort to potions for both. First try, I died horribly; the second time I was prepared. Still, the toughest adversary I faced in the entire game.

That annoying wood elf was no big deal in comparison: I went in totally unprepared, yet took him out using my "standard" weapon of the time (Fortify Strength on Self on Strike, which can't be resisted or reflected, since it's not cast on the opponent), and without chugging any potions until the last seconds of the fight, when it was looking a bit too close for comfort.

I haven't had any problems with GR,though i did use several exclusive restore health potions during the battle.Wood elf,however,was the one who mopped up the floor with me(several times).

It's been awhile since I had to fight her, but if I remember correctly my success was a combination of Scrolls of Nerusi's Lockjaw, some fortify strength buffs, and Trueflame. Can't remember what level I was though. Overall I thought Gaenor was much tougher.




Looking at her file I don't see any ability to cast reflect.


Nope, but elemental spells ignore the resistance. In this case fire is your best bet.

I quote myself from Morrowind Awards #5: Most Challenging Battle: Ridiculous power and superiority (Gedna) is even more challenging than an opponent you can't hit (Gaenor). I mean, I began to hit Gaenor at some stage! But I feel I only got through Gedna with Helseth's ring, maxed Blunt skill and Mace of Aevar Stone-Singer.

One of these days I should start a more down-to-earth character and see if I can beat neither of those bastards...

No, & my spell does very little damage & wouldn't make up the difference if she could.
I haven't ruled out bugged.
But hopefully I will find some of the more powerful gear mentioned by the time I go back.