Which follower has the best skill, or knows the greater number of spells, in Restoration and who is the most skilled follower in Destruction?


Preferably someone I can give equipment to and not lose it.

For Destruction, probably Marcurio. J'zargo also knows Destruction, but has lower-level default spells. Illia's also good--very good, in fact--but is glitched.

For Restoration, probably Erandur. However, this translates into him being a very underwhelming companion, since no follower ever uses Restoration spells on you, only themselves; this prevents him from having decent offensive spells.

Marcurio's probably one of the strongest, if not the strongest, mage followers. He'll die very seldom--but he will steal your kills!

at the moment im using onmund, he's great with spells, i havent tried barbas but heared he's also good (daedric dog unlimited health sort of thing).

I should point out that it's not necessarily whether the follower knows the most spells of a particular school, as whether they know the best spells and will use them. J'zargo knows more Destruction spells than Marcurio, but J'zargo tends to stick with Flames and Sparks, while Marcurio only knows 3 Destruction spells (if the UESP is to be believed), but uses all of them and they're higher level--Firebolt, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning. Marcurio also uses a mage armor spell, a ward, and a turn undead spell (when called for), and will also heal himself. Thus far, he's been the follower that uses the most appropriate spells for each situation.

You also don't need to join the College of Winterhold to get him as a companion, merely hire him for 500 gp.

From the OP's crack about the companion not stealing their stuff, I'm guessing they've tried Illia already!

The woman at Azura's shrine, if you do the quest one way, is an excellent mage follower - Destruction and Alteration I believe. I can't remember hername. Marcurio is one of my favorite casting followers though. He's dreeeeamy....

I've been working my way through the various tank followers, since I am playing a mage. Stenvar remains one of my favorites, but I have had Ahtar for a while and he's pretty much the same - Stenvar seemed more aggressive though.