I hired Janessa, Dark elf, she can wear iron helmet, gauntlets, boots, use sword, 2 hander...but I CANNOT get her to DUAL WIELD, or wear Iron Chestplate, infact she won't replace her chest piece at all. Why can't I get her to dual wield or wear a chest plate? And when can I take her 'beginner' armor? Does she level with me?

If I hire her, let her go, hire another mercenary, let him go, hire Janessa again, will she still have all the inventory I gave her? Will she wear them so others can recruit her? Or does she love how her starter gear looks on her? Do I hire her again for 500 gold? Will she stay with me forever when I hire her once?


Thank you.

Great game overall!

The companions only use weapons and armor if they are 'upgrades' over their default equipment, when it does that evaluation it appears to only use the default damage/armor values, disregarding any enchantments. Your briastplate is simply worse then the one she currently has equipped (That you can't see the stats off). The only time I've ever seen the companion dual wield is when it had a staff equiped, thus giving it a free hand to equip a melee weapon.

Thanks for the reply. I realize all that, however; my mercenary is currently wearing Leather Armor with 29 armor rating while what I want to give her has 35 armor rating. She refuses to put it on. She has plenty of room in her inventory as well. I tried emptying her inventory(cannot take her beginner armor) and tried again, nothing works.

I've noticed that behaviour sometimes as well. It appears that for some item slots, the companion will have a preference when it comes to armour type, however it's not consistent. You'll probably not have any issues getting your mercenary to equip the bracers/helm/boots, but she'll probably only upgrade the chest if its light armor.

I gave Forsworn armor to my Merc. she did not wear it. however, I went into a fort with her and she actually wore the forsworn. I kept a save file, and infact, everytime I enter another place, or reload the save, she is wearing the forsworn chest piece. If I try to take the forsworn away and give it back to her, she will not wear it. So I'm going to keep it saved. At least she looks female with the forsworn on...

They do upgrade, but seems like they are very choosy in what gear they want to use.

Lydia will use the stormcloak helm and dwarven gauntlets that I gave her.

I think their armour is random. I gave my Mage Merc some black robes and he alternates between them and his default gear all the time.

But Janessa will not wear ANY chest piece I give her at all. Even if it's better for her. I only got her to wear Forsworn through a possible glitch. Anyone else have these problems? Anyone have a solution?

bump

i can get janessa to dual wield katanas except he doesnt take the other one out until a battle for some odd reason

still no chest though huh

bumpy 2