I was wearing the same armor and equipment, I gained those levels by systematically taking out kiras fortress, I also had put those skill points into offensive spells (and the problem was how much damage I was taking), I put 10 skill points into int (maxing it out), 4 into vitality, and 6 into STR.
I highly doubt that is what made the difference here.
I did L2P, I learned that 2 levels under = reload a lot, 3 levels over = can't touch me.
