Ok I don't know what this is, but this is my description of whats happening right now.

Im level (random #) and Im just derping around killing Ash Spawn, no problem, like a tank. Then all of the sudden, a few levels later Im fighting Ash Spawn again. Except this time, one of them hits me with a firebolt and nearly a QUARTER of my health already gets chunked out. My max health is 230 so its not like I have a low health bar or anything. This kind of seems like a bug to me, so I decided why not ask about.

(Addition: Im currently wearing Blades Armor at the moment)

Well, this isn't really a lot of detail to go on.

Had you been getting hit by their fire bolts before? You said you were killing them, but were they landing fire bolts?

What difficulty are you playing on?

Well Im playing on Novice which Im surprised this is happening on but to answer UnrivaledAssault's question, yes they had used firebolts on me before but they were weak.

My first thoughts are this:

Maybe you have an active effect that has lowered your magic resistance? Check that out.

Maybe you accidentally forgot to equip some of the armor?

Maybe you got hit by more than one Firebolt or something?

Other than that, I don't know.

You might need better Magic Resistance.

But he says that he was already doing fine against them. What changed?

I must say, that is strange if it just randomly happened if none of the things UnrivaledAssault said is the issue. But if you're walking around just murderizing everything, shouldn't you bump the difficulty up a bit and make it interesting?

If nothing I said is the issue, maybe the game is doing it for them .

Which brings me to another thought:

Maybe the difficulty got changed, and you didn't really notice? I've flipped through the settings, only to find I went from Master to Novice. Talk about a weird effect.

Well I do have Zahkriisos which increases shock resistance by 50% and Shock spell damage by 25%. Other than that theres nothing that makes me vulnerable to magic. But this actualy has happened to me before on other accounts. I don't know if the enemy damage could be increasing due to my level increasing?

That would be so evil of it to do! I like it.

Were you wearing this mask the entire time? Or did you recently switch to it?

Ive been constantly wearing it since it was better than my helmet and had some benefits.

Interesting. So, was this an isolated incident? Or has this become common all of the sudden?

Well now that Ive been playing further, Ive recently fought some Seekers and their blasts did typical damage. Although it wasn't as exaggerated as those Ash Spawn in the General's Tower though.

Ash spawns get really powerful the higher the level of the player.

You mean Fort Frostmoth? Or what?

Also, what michaelpk said is true. But you said it was only a couple levels, right?

You sure it was a Firebolt, and not something more powerful?

Yes I think it was at Fort Frostmoth but also to answer the other question, im currently at level 22

22... I'm not sure if I remember seeing Skirmishers at that level. When you are fighting ash spawns, do they just say "Ash Spawn" or do they say something like "Ash Spawn Skirmisher"?

Just Ash Spawn right now :/

That's really odd. You're sure it was a firebolt, and not an ash based projectile?

Well yeah it did look way different from a fire bolt. It was like a dark orb that looked incendiary based. So I guess it was an ash based projectile?

Could be that. I haven't played in a while, so I don't remember exactly what it looks like. But if it is that, than that's why you probably took more damage. The ash spell hits harder I believe.

Hopefully someone who has more knowledge than I can confirm (or deny) this for you.

In any case, you said it seems that damage has returned to normal. Make sure if it happens again to really record all of the details. It would make it much easier to figure out.

pause game, Higher your difficulty, Exit the pause menu, pause again, lower the difficulty then exit the pause menu and it could fix it. I do this every time I start up the game because for some weird reason I am able to get 1 shot by a bandit if I dont change the difficulty and then put it back to how I had it. I play on legendary.