Game Skyrim Forum

I'm going to be starting a Priest character, and I obviously need a hardy follower to defend me. Which follower is the best and what can I do to enhance their abilities?

Any mage with destruction is a great help. Sometimes it even bothers you as the minor enemies are usually slaughtered by your follower before you can start killing it. That way, your skills don't raise of course.
But I can certainly recommend Marcurio and Onmund as followers...
Marcurio (Bee and Barb, Riften if I'm not mistaken) will charge you 500 but Onmund (College of Winterhold) is free if you do him a favour.

Mages are useful early on, but later on they lose power.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:J%27zargo

J'Zargo is solid. I believe he levels pretty highly too.

Really though? I know his level cap is 81 and all but he uses Apprentice level spells. I cannot see how he can be good at all.

I think a heavy-armored follower is the best one for you. Just stay behind him/her in battles and cast spells from afar.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Kharjo is good, maybe http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Borgakh_the_Steel_Heart.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Annekke_Crag-Jumper is a good light-armored follower.
All of the hirelings have solid skills, too.

Annekke's good in theory--if her quest & the thieves guild quest didn't clash, preventing you from getting her.

I never had any real complaints with Aela; used her a few times, but I haven't really used any others since.
I sent Marcurio to Boethiah.

If you don't like him, that's your decision right there, no J'Zargo for you.

From my personal experience, I like range companion as they don't get in your way in combat, while magic attacks are much faster than bow and arrow and the ranger AI in the game is pretty crap.

J'Zargo can max to your level, with an accpectable voice acting and would use attacking spells rather than conjunction.

As you do not like what he does, go check out all other mages and see who does better for you, but no J'Zargo for you.

I use Mjoll right now because she's invincible. Also, because of marriage, I can get 100 gold from her every in-game day. Win-win, if the mindless pvssyr doesn't drive you insane.

Chalk up another glitch for me, she never gave me that Grimsever quest on my current character. The sword's not in the dungeon unless you get the quest.
I like her, though.

I use Derkeethus since he is the only Essential Argonian Follower but it is mainly up to you.. Any follower can be made to be the best.

Too bad he's glitchy. Almost always returns to Darkwater Crossing, and doesn't properly dual-wield. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Derkeethus

The only Glitch I hate about him is the one with Darkwater Crossing but I found ways around that... When you tell him to leave you, he ALWAYS go to Darkwater Crossing first thus, doing w/e you need to do first, then returning to Darkwater Crossing and you will find him there.

He dual-wield staves just fine. He loves to spam spells from staves XD. That or he'll use his Bow... He rarely, if ever, use his Daedric Claymore that has a base damage of over 2 million.

That's definitely weird. I'd be paranoid that he'll get himself killed with all that wandering around on his own.

i travel alone most of the time but if i do have a companion its its mjorl who i married in game tho she glitched for a while after i had her kill her stalker aerin the glitch was she wont fight just follow you glitch fixed when i got arrested XD

I rarely tell him to leave me alone though.

Btw, is there a glitch with dogs? I heard you can get a Dog and a Humanoid companion but it wont let me.

there is a glitch with the dogs sometimes when you speak to a stray no option to follow you will happen dog will just bark.

Assuming you are on PC, you can check them out on with the Creation Kit. Either way, for tanking Vorstag is very good. One handed, heavy armor.

Derkeethus isn't *supposed* to dual-wield. The pickaxe is set to equip to either hand instead of either the right or left, and NPCs think it's okay to use a normal right-hand weapon and then will equip the pickaxe because they don't have anything in their left hand. And why would he use a greatsword when he's skilled with one-handed weapons? Now, if you want a dual-wielding follower, try Jenassa.

Fix his little run-back-home thing with "StopQuest DarkwaterCrossingDerkeethusRescueQuest," though that will remove his essential flag. Then he can die if he's not following you or married to you.

Anneke? Not like Linwe exists from the start of the game -- just do her quest before doing "Summerset Shadows."

Now, OP, I think Mjoll, being a paladin-y sort and fairly hardy, as well as essential, would be perfect for your priest. You can get her starting at level 14. Until then, you could purchase the services of a hireling, like Stenvar in Windhelm. Just scrounge up 520 gold (500 for purchase, 20 for the carriage) at Helgen and in Riverwood. Or you could get far enough in the main quest to get Lydia, the Whiterun Housecarl.

They use swords or axes (one-handed for Lydia, and two-handed for Mjoll and Stenvar) and heavy armor; Lydia and Stenvar both have steel by default, but they might prefer the Imperial Captain's armor if you follow Ralof out of Helgen. Mjoll should like practically anything, since she starts with iron. They can also use the other type of weapon (in other words, one-handed for Mjoll and Stenvar and two-handed for Lydia), though they won't do as much damage. Mjoll is equally good with all types of two-handed weapons.

Or, if you'd prefer a fellow priest, Erandur in Dawnstar will follow you if you help him, though it might be tough for a low-level player. Erandur has a lot of health, but isn't good with any armor type and knows only three weak spells. He is, however, skilled at using one-handed weapons, and has a lot of dialogue.

in my opinion followers in general svck they scale horribly with the player and are weak this is why instead of using followers i use dead thralls having 2 is basically slaughter

Housecarls are generally the best melee followers. Marcurio is, IMO, the best ranged follower.

He dual-wields Two Daedric Swords once. I think he is suppose to dual-wield, if you ask me.

Also, I gave him a Claymore because I like Claymores and the fact that he rarely uses Melee already so really, it just for looks when we are in town (He'll equip it since it is his best weapon)

Dremora Lords do better then Dead Thralls and don't have to worry about your Dead Thralls randomly dying and that sort of stuff. Also, any follower can be made to be deadly. It is impossible to kill Derkeethus on my game XD

LOL. Who were you picking for thralls? Even on 360 I had thralls that could probably take 3 Dremora at the same time. A Volkihar Vampire will absolutely wreck a Dremora, even a Markynaz.