I am playing as a pure mage. Who would you suggest would be the best companion for me?

Instinct would tell you to get a physical brawler with a shield but honestly they will just get in the way and scold you for friendly fire.

I personally use j'zargo because he scales well, has a lot of hp, and compliments your ranged style play. between him and arniels shade or a storm atronach you will be able to deplete enemy casters' magicka in seconds.

If you are a Conjurer , i'd say Brelyna of the Mage college is a decent companion , or the priest of the Azura Shrine (forgot her name ) , she uses conjuration as well .
if you are a Destruction mage , i'd say J'zargo or Marcurio of Riften are very good in destruction
If you want a "tank" that uses magic , the guy at solitude's inn , he's a spellsword , he uses destruction magic and sword , so not a pure mage but still effective with magic and soak much of the damage


Although if you can enable/disable your companion to make sure they level , it makes companion more useful/fun to use , if you are not on PC , i think it is best to enter the zone where they stand only at high level , if they are above level 30 , they can last you for a long time and you won't need to babysit them and reload many times because they keep dying after a few seconds .

Otherwise for pc users , it's also possible to make Tolfdir and many others your follower with the console , Tolfdir is several levels above J'zargo , quite strong .

Err, this is really stupid but how do you dismiss a follower? There doesn't seem to be a dialogue option.

There is supposed to be a dialogue option of "It's time for you and I to part ways" or "You are dismissed, go home". then they leave and are no longer listed as a "Follower" by the game's engine.

There should be a dialog option "it's time to part ways" at the bottom of the dialog box , maybe shutting your game and reloading the save would fix it if you really can't see the option

I don't seem to have this dialogue option,it is missing. Probably bugged Any console command or something around this? (Playing on pc)

I played a mage to lvl 61, and agree with the above. I would add Onmund to the list, he is skilled in Heavy Armor, Destruction, and One Hand. (very similar to Balrand sp? the hire-able guy at the inn in solitude).




I use xbox 360, so can't do the console stuff... I have wondered, however, what exactly constitutes "entering the zone". Does this mean the city, or the tavern, or what?

A bow user is good for helping you collect soul gems.

Okay, I loaded an earlier save and the dialogue option is there! Is it okay to have two destruction mages as someone suggested J'zargo? I think a bow user is a good idea too. I had Farkas at one point but he was pretty useless cause he was too slow getting to the fight and protecting me.

Cicero

I don't know exactly , i suspect it is the room where he is , because the first time the game loads the NPC , then his level is set . Perhaps as a precaution , it is better to avoid visiting 1 or 2 cities/location until you reach level ~40 , cause i don't know when the engine loads the NPC , if it loads it only when entering the specific room where the companion is or if it sets a general level when you enter a city and generate all the population based on your level

I have Vorstag with my pure mage. If he's starting to get in the way, I just move to one side and continue shooting fire at the target from a different angle. Works http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc389/eisoj5/Jerem0050.jpg