I think enemy destruction mages are very powerful. Are companions similar?

In my experience, Mage companions tend to be rather weak. They jump in at the last minute and also die easily, they also don't know very good spells. You could give them a decent staff, but that would be annoying to keep up with. It might be better if you could actually teach your companion new spells.

In a word "NO" high level enemies get bonus damage for being high level it seems. Thats why say bandit highwaymen and marudars can still keep up the damage with your high level guys when using Iron weapons while your using daedric on them.

The most powerful mage allied to the player I've seen is Anska, the fire mage looking for a scroll in a tomb in the Pale hold. She can fry high level Draugr (I think she scales as much as the enemies within the tomb) with ease. Too bad she cannot be turned into a companion, not even with console tricks (she's a welcome script that block any other dialogue)

I really like mage companions a lot. Right now i'm rolling with Aranea from the Azura Shrine. I outfitted her with heaver armor and basically she mostly just stays back summons Atronachs and hits people with spells from a distance while i do damange upclose and personal with my sword. Also found Belrand to be a really good companion too outfitted with some good gear.

One thing you have to remember about companions is that if you level up a few times you have to dismiss them and then have them join you again for them to scale to your level like they are supposed to...

You also have to consider that certain Mage companions have different specialties than others...

Aranea has Conjuration and Destruction with Alteration and Restoration, Marcurio in in Riften has all of these plus Sneak for those times that you might need that, while J'Zargo from the College of Winterhold has Destruction, Illusion, One-Handed and Heavy Armor, as does Onmund from the College...

Breylyna Maryon from the College uses Alteration, Illusion, Conjuration and Sneak, which would tend to make her the weakest choice out of all of the mage type followers as she has no primary attack abilities...

Erandur from the Daedric Quest Waking Nightmare is a Healer using Restoration, Conjuration, Speech and Alchemy, While the last two aren't that useful in a follower as far as I can tell, his use of Restoration more than makes up for it and with Conjuration he should be able to help with damage in combat as well...

I don't know but the NPC destruction is a lot stonger than mine...

because they get bonus damage of course for being leveld NPC's. followers are stuck with the same damage as you.

The question is, do they get bonus damage or do they simply do same damage as you and are simply nerfed before?

i waited till about level 35 or so to get eola and she uses adept level spells at least, they're fairly powerful, she uses thundrebolt a lot, and its not a weak one, it sends enemies flying all over the place, she rocks how i have her set up, all double enchanted gear, several staffs which she uses, but she uses her own powerfull spells also, not to mention she conjures up everything. i'm level 52 and she does really good and doesn't die unless i accidentalty shoot spells at her when trying to kill other enemies.

From experiance, it's more them likely some type of damage multiplier. For instance Bandit armed with hunting bow can pretty much shot my 160 armored Archer girl all day and do little damage. Bandit outlaw armed with same bow can 3-4 shot me (health at 160 now.) IF I let him shoot me the same way.

Is it based on perks they use or the AI cheating?

I have outfitted Eola with good armor and so e nice gear, and she is a beast in combat. She mixes it up with sword and spell, spell and spell, or Conjuration (atronoachs and undead both). Plus, she sneaks, pretty much the perfect companion for my assassin/necromancer.

I'm specifically avoiding Riften on my Nord Warrior until i hit Lvl 50 (Not much further to go), so Marcurio will be as high level as possible. People who are complaining about their Mage companions being weak, it is because they went into the area with the companion at a low level. Follower's become "Level Locked" when you first enter the area they're in. If you go to the Pelagia Farm at Lvl 6 and first meet Aela/Farkas/Vilkas there, they'll permanently be locked at Lvl 6, no matter how much you level up. Only PC version with the console commands can re level them.

Don't know but i gave Marcurio a few destruction spells and he seems to take out the enemy destruction users way faster than they can even touch his health.

Enemy mages use scaled spell sets that are "hidden" in the game, and leveled to their named ranking. They are the same spells the player gets in appearance, but do from "a little" to "much more" damage in comparison. For example, getting hit by a Master Necromancer's "Frostbite" spell will kick your ass right quick, but a "Novice Necromancer" will have minor spell damage potential that the player can mostly shrug off with a little bit of magic resistance.

-Loth

PS As for companion spells... I have no idea. Sorry.

AI cheating. NPC spells and damge bonus fro higher levels.

When I went to get illia at the darklight towers at around level 30 she was pretty beast using high level frost magic and was killing enemies left and right. so yea don't get mage companions unless you're high level otherwise they won't be using the proper magic level sets as they should

Find said followeers at higher levels and they wll be higher levels with higher level spells. The first time you see a follower, they are locked into the same level you were when you found them. Although, I just use arch necromancers and summoners as followers, using dead thrall, works wonders, cuz they end up getting thralls too, and it gets pretty nutso.

Illia, Marcurio, Eola and Arenea are all badass. Give them staffs, stand out of the way and wtach the enemy burn

Illia, my Destruction follower, ( I got her at lvl 40 ) takes on Dragon Priests, Draugr Deathlords, Elder Dragons and even Forsworn Briarhearts all by herself... I usually just stand by and watch her unleashing Hell. So I'd guess the NPC Magic rules apply...if not, people need to stop whining about Destruction being underpowered, because her isn't!!

playing on Master btw...