Who is, in your opinion, the best follower in terms of ability and why?

I'm trying to find the best follower because I'm sick of mine dying all the time

mjoll cant die and she is a beast. she walks around riften.

My two favorite followers`are both hired mercenaries: Janessa of Whiterun, and Marcurio of Riften. It depends on which one you want to go with, but they both start off the battle with ranged attacks, which helps if you enjoy to run to your enemies with whatever blade you decide to wield. I would suggest saving Marcurio until higher levels, especially if you're having trouble with Automatons (they don't seem to like his chain lightening attacks)

Most powerfull follower is the one you've most recently run into because the follower's level is whatever level you were when you first met them.

I've been using Lydia and she's been doing alright after I give her better gear, but I pretty much am curious about the same thing. I'd like to get a different follower who might be able to dish it out a bit better than her.

About followers and their levels: I read somewhere on the Wiki that their levels can be brought up to your by dismissing them, letting them return to their "home," and then getting them to follow you again. Is this accurate?

I used to like the Khajiit warrior, Kharjo, until I discovered his handicap: he simply flat-out refused to use the bow of soul-stealing that I crafted for him. I dumped all my empty soul gems into his inventory along with the bow, hoping he'd use it to capture the souls of the creatures and NPCs I killed. I even tried several different types of bows and arrows, both weak and strong. No luck there.. the stubborn housecat would always either use his paws or pick up some useless melee weapon from the ground and use that instead. I quickly tired of his insubordination and decided to punish him by taking him to Sky Haven Temple to enlist with the Blades.

Right now I have Iona the housecarl of Honeyside as my sidekick. She at least uses the bow half the time, though she too sometimes picks up random weapons or fights with her fists, especially in indoors locations. I don't understand why the game doesn't let you specify the equipment you want your followers to use.

Like Azriel, I highly recommend Mjoll The Lionness. She's never died on me and knows her way around dual-wielding magical staffs. I'm also married to her so I don't know whether that has anything to do with her refusal to die. She talks a lotta trash, too.

lol she is the best. she is tagged as a essential npc, like the jarls, she will go to one knee but no matter how many times you hit her she wont die.

Yeah, and just why did I choose to marry her? Admittedly, not because of her prowess with weapons. I just liked her accent. And then I find out there are numerous women characters in just about every town or city with that same accent. I know. Same voice actress. Hey, that's my sweetie talking. Oop, Imperial Guard. Wrong one. Oh yeah, she yawns, too if I take my time scrounging chests and loot. She totally kills me but in a good way.

Is it wrong if I read aloud your avatar in the skyrim voice?

nope but i read it in the arnold voice..

After long and thorough studies I do believe that Arnold himself voiced that Nord.

if he did thats awesome

I have aela follow me, we're married so there are a million bonuses, I do however miss my bachelor days when me and marcurio would travel the world and get sh** done, the MANS way, seriously, as much as I like having aela with me, I can't help but feel a little hole in my heart we're marcurio was.

he always boasted that he was the best and that nothing could best him, but when it came down to it he was a solid friend and knew his place. I also remember giving him thalmor robes and an executioners hood, called him the rouge imperial altmer.

According to that Chart, J'zargo is the toughest. I think it depends a lot on what class you play also.

Lydia is the only follower I use now. She can kill everything I encounter based on her stats and the gear I put on her (groups of Forsworn, Dragons, groups of Giants and Mammoths etc.)

If you're a melee fighter, the Housecarls are among the best followers you can get. Their level cap is 50 and they do well with both bow and sword and shield. Even if you're a ranged fighter, if you take away their melee weapon and give them a bow only they will use it. The Housecarls also love to use staves. They'll even dual wield them if you give them two. My Lydia will loot a staff off of anybody she kills and immediately start using it on enemies out of melee range even though she has a Legendary Daedric Bow.

I have Argis right now and i think he is a little more aggressive than Lydia was, i have seen him run up and run his sword clean through the guy he was fighting, ive also seen him chase down his nemesis and kill them.

I used to use Lydia with my other character. I just turned her into a tank. Smithed heavy armour enchaned with fortify 2-handed. rings and necklaces fortify 2 handed and a smithed warhammer with a fire enchantment. It would take a big group to mob us to put her down.

I've seen Lydia do several of the one-handed killing animations including impaling enemies on her sword and she always finishes off enemies when they try to run away by either chasing them down or switching to her bow and killing them with arrows as they run away. I've see her beat enemies to death with her shield. Trust me, she's very aggressive once you get her stats up.

what equip you give her?