At the moment I'm running around with the mage J'zargo. I got him to level 30, but in combat he is still mostly using the basic sparks spell.
Do destruction followers never use higher level spells? I wonder because conjuration followers summon the occasional frost atronarch instead of familiars.

Most spellcasters that have sparks, frostbite or flames, will not use use them until they are low on magicka at higher levels.

J'zargo on the other hand will use sparks against enemies in sparks range and won't use his other spells until enemies are out of spark range.

Which is 90% of the time since sparks has a pretty decent range.

J'zargo also won't use weapons in melee, he prefers to use his fists.

I managed to fix this with an npc editor and now he uses lightning cloak, thunderbolt all the time.

He still uses his fists in melee, but I gave him the fists of steel perk so he actually does mediocre damage in melee.

hmm ... I assume that other destruction followers handle it the same way?

with balanced magic mod its not a problem since sparks stays viable even at level 50

stop talking about mods

jzargo is in the end just an apprentice from the college. the followers you get their are not as good as the other ones you can get....

i heard from quiet a few ppl that he is very strong, but the mage i got from azuras shrine totally poops on him.....

ah, that girl hates me ... but the black star was worth it.

lol Jzargo. Go to Darklight Tower to get a REAL follower.

Dont abandom her though because she goes away forever thanks to a bug!

That Anska chick is a freakin' psycho. Just started launching Fireballs at everything in sight once. And not just a single one either, they always came in at least a pair. Then she and Lydia started trying to kill each other. Too bad she's not a permanent follower, could use some decent craziness at times.

I'm really hoping an Anska follower mod pops up in the near future, it really surprised me that she isn't one already.

Why? The balanced destruction magic is great mod.

eola seems to use some powerful destruction spells, i think chain lightning, thunderbolt, fireballs and her destruction skill is 75 or so she doesn't go thru staff charges very fast. illia uses expert spells also but since she isn't rehirable i don't use her much.

great ....
eola is a cannibal, anska not a follower and Illia is bugged....

Interesting mod at the Nexus, Specialized Followers, Illia can be rehired in this mod, she's my favorite by far, then Aranea. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow, all the followers have interesting abilities if the mod works as stated.
Illia:

• Prima Donna restores 1 health every second. When under 35% magicka and over 35% health, it drains health into magicka at a 2 to 1 ratio. This ability to efficiently use health for casting encourages giving her enchantments and potions that improve health.
  
• I've corrected the issue that caused problems with rehiring her. She has also been added to the potential marriage list.
  
• To make it easier to get her to equip things, Illia has a robe with no attached hood now.

Brelyna:
Anticipation - Increases armor rating by 80 points and negates up to 80 points of spell damage or effects for the entire party.
Closure - Heals the party 30 health per second.
_____Breylna is a master of using magic for defense, both of herself and others. She's resilient and has spells that let her shield and heal allies regardless of their type. Players who often find themselves in dangerous situations will be glad to have Brelyna.

• Because she uses Mage Armor, you'll want to leave her in her default outfit. To compensate, Brelyna's Warm Boots have 30% frost resistance and Brelyna's Robes have an enchantment that levels with her. At level 30 they reach full power, providing 25% magic resistance and +150% magicka regeneration.

J'Zargo:
Wonder What's Next - Firebolt weakens enemies to frost. Ice Spike weakens enemies to shock. Lightning Bolt weakens enemies to fire.
Skeptic - Take 30% less damage from fire, frost, and shock spells.
_____J'zargo has trained in quick and efficient elemental strikes. Each spell temporarily weakens targets to his follow-up hits, making his spell combos better than the sum of their parts. He's very confident in his own abilities, but oddly, his doubt about the abilities of others actually leads them to perform more poorly when fighting him, making him resistant to enemy magic.

• The weakness effect is 50% for 8 seconds. This stacks on other resistances and weaknesses (including itself) multiplicatively. Because it's weakening the enemy rather than empowering J'zargo, you can make use of his weakness effects on your attacks. In combat, J'zargo will rarely make use of the stacking. Instead he often switches spells rapidly to achieve the maximum damage from his combos.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=7245

(Hope this posts OK.)

I really think they should have built in better follower details into the game....

I'd like to see how they're perked out without guess work or having to look for what PC players have decoded

Additionally I'd like proper control of their equipment... absurd they just equip w/e the frack they want. Weapon swapping I can understand, but we should be able to control apparel.

I will never use followers until someone finds someway to make them a bit more intelligent. I was playing a mage at one time and took Brelyna from the college. Because of the poor AI, she walks into my flame cloak, naturally considering it an attack and proceeds to attack ME because the AI doesn't tell them that walking into your wingwan's flamecloak is bad, m'kay... Besides, they just get in the way. FAR too many ways of causing accidental damage to the follower and having them turn on you!

^I call BS... cloak spells have NO effect on followers or civilians and ONLY affect HOSTILE targets.

You must have hit her with splash from a fireball... or maybe used JZargos cloak spell (which hurts you too actually)