OR tell him to move in to your Solitude house?

Illia, the cute little matricidal witchy-poo from the tower near Riften. Maybe its because I didn't meet here until I was level 45, but she seems abnormally badass. She shoots off enough frost to make hell freeze over (pretty sure she has the dual casting perk) and makes extensive and fairly intelligent use of the wide assortment of staffs I gave her. She's happy to wear heavy armor, and likes to hang out in her undies and helmet (or less, with the right mods) while I smith it up.

Erandur was also quite good, but seemed to fall behind rather badly after I hit level 40.

Lydia sits/stands in my bedroom at Breezehome eating bread and cheese, I got pretty tired of her poor AI and if there is a trap she will be trapped, period. I don't have her follow any more. She is too annoying.

I went about alone for a while but then I met Illia. Illia is awesome. Her Icedarts are awesome. She even manages not to set off every trap in every dungeon like Lydia does. If I step around a pressure plate, Illia seems to avoid that danger too.

If Illia has a problem, it's when she frequently ices ME(!) when I am in melee with a bad guy. She sometimes uses some kind of area effect spell and ices both me and my opponents. But being a Nord and with resist cold gear on as well, her magic does little harm to my PC.

Erandur is prolly better if you've found him at a higher level. Followers are leveled but they automaticly get a set-level when you first see them. Example: Meeting Erandur at level 10 will forever make him level 10. Meeting him at level 81 will forever make him level 81.

Unless you keep console-ing him or her to your current level.

But not everyone uses the PC version. Some people are just too poor to even pay for the computer to run the game.

That reminds me of a Dilbert comic strip. The boss asks to be shown again how to reboot his laptop. He's told to raise it above his head and shake it.


I've examined her at length (and breadth!) and I can assure you that she possesses no tattoos.

Otherwise, I haven't tried a mage-type of follower. I can give Lydia a couple of staves and she'll rip 'em a new one every time. I did take Jenassa out for some work west of Whiterun. I can't add any more than what was said here already. She's pretty darn good. Somehow she gives off a "professional" vibe.

Mjoll is the Chatty Cathy of followers, it's true, and though she can't die, she was getting one-shot by a Forsworn archer at level 48! I examined her stats and found that damage resistance was something like -20000. Good grief. I set it to 300 or so, and she can keep up a steady stream of taunts now, lol.

"Think you can take me?! Ha! I love a good fight! The White take you!"

Thank Science for mods!

EDIT: Not to mention that besides marriage I used aforementioned modding capability to enhance Faralda's looks.

I keep seeing this Wabbajack trick being talked about. How do you do it. Nothing happens when I try it.
My Lydia can't carry any weight at all anymore. I don't know why either. Not even a ring.
I've hit her with the Wabbajack a hundred times already and nothing ever changes. I'm on PS3.

Same here. You eventually just tune her out, lol. But the best thing about her is she is essential and cannot be killed.
Can't tell you how many times I have accidentally wasted Lydia or that chick from the mages college with a stray fireball.

As a mage with high conjuration skill, there is no need for a follower at all. Just order up a Dremora Lord. And I don't need a walking storage chest because I have no armour or weapons to weigh me down.

Female Dark Brotherhood Initiate.

She is obviously the resurrected demon Astrid. Just look at her red eyes.

However, my favorite things about her are, 1. she uses a dagger, 2. she is now quite submissive, I love the things she says. She is a lot of fun to take along on ops from time to time.

Mjoll was the longest - her stories annoyed after awhile. I married her to shut her up after I tried to kill her and couldn't.
Then I had to kill her borfriend who wouldn't leave us alone.

Lydia is effective and is relatively quiet, but a bit dull - and the "carry your burdens" BS gets a bit old after a while.

Brelyna Maryon from the college was the biggest surprise. Very effective as a conjuror. And she keeps her mouth shut.
My new character is based on conjuration as a result. I was at level 50 when I started with her though.

I liked Janessa too. She was my first and was killed by a troll. I was actually sad.

I used a few others, but they were really unhelpful for whatever reason.

Atronachs.

They don't babble on incessantly, and you can even use AOE spells around them without killing them (assuming you match your spell type to your Atronach).

Barbas was my favourite. I enjoyed his company, and his pluck. I especially liked how he wouldn't get out of my way, and occasionally pushed me off some cliffs.

Dremora Lords > Atronachs.

Serious, how many people doesn't check the Conjuration Shop in the College of Winterhold after they get 75 Conjuration?

Dremorae (correct plural?) are ok too, but there are a couple of problems with them.

-1: You can hurt them with your spells
-2: You don't really need any spells. You can just let the Dremora Lord play the game for you (kind of boring to me, but YMMV).

I'm surprised there's no love for Eola in this thread.
I know a lot of folks just kill her when they meet her, but if you're playing a character with a dark side, she's awesome. Good destruction and conjuration and when she runs out of magicka, she's not the least bit shy about diving into melee.
She's also decently stealthy- until you draw your weapon and she starts flinging elemental death around.

I like Brelyna Maryon also, she provided heavy artillery for my Nord warrior, not to mention her response when giving her gear..."i'm a mage, not a shopkeep"

Spriggan Matron mod downloaded via Steam. Conjure her up along with a Dremora Lord in a tough fight and she'll live longer and do more damage than the Dremora. As long as fire doesn't hit her, that is. Ace against the highest level Draugrs and Falmer.

Edit: I just checked and there's another mod that lets you recruit 2 different Spriggans as followers, one is at the inn in Riverwood. Looks like fun, they shouldn't set off any traps.
SFP:Spriggan Followers Project http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9149

I do happen to play on PC. But the console commnd I found for resting a followers level didn't seem to make much difference with Erandur.

J'zargo was my LEAST favorite follower, as he never used anything but the weakest spells until injured. Which is quite funny (the cat toys with his prey) but rather useless for my playstyle.

Dead Cicero thrall...still makes great comments

Glitch "invisible Vilkas" companion... (Caused by the Companions Purity glitch-loop.)

Nothing like having a glitch-caused companion that isn't really there but makes everyone else believe he is. Call it self-torture but since I can't be rid of it and no one else will join me, at least it makes me be that much more of a badass berserker when I know I can never get any help from a follower. svcks I can't complete the Hircine Daedric quest though (Can't talk to or sacrifice a follower who isn't really there)

Yeah, and I love when she walks away from me.

Recently I started using the Spectral Assassin. I kind of enjoy the ability to be alone until I *need* help.
And by help, I mean... go over there and get their attention so I can kill them from behind. And if I miss and hit you... well, you're dead.

Lydia was fine, but I had the same problem many others did: arrows in her back or back of her head 'cause she just couldn't stay behind me.


Benor was kinda entertaining. His lines with that voice just made him sound like a lovable oaf, but DANG was he dumb. D-U-M-M dumb. I spent almost as much time getting him un-stuck as I did actually traveling. It was practically a given that wherever I ran... he would get stuck on a twig or something and I'd have to just count on him spawning with me when I entered the next cave. He's back at home now but I let him keep the armor.

Aela was sneaky... decent with a bow... and teh gud to look at. Gave her (legendary) Forsworn armor and now I almost am HER thrall. I don't need her at all, but I still use her just to have that around me.

Mjoll was alright. I didn't use her long enough to notice her being extra talkative.



Aela wins.