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Murder Them With Death
I already killed off the dark brotherhood and so far every follower I have is either too weak or sucks at sneak.
What follower would be good for a thief
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Technically any follower can be great for a thief if you give them muffle to silence all that clunky armor. You want to avoid followers that like to talk when you stand too close to them, though, so Serana and Karliah (even though you can't keep Karliah as a permanent follower anyway) would be bad choices, as your proximity may trigger dialogue.
Personally, I've been very happy with Vorstag. He's heavy armor, sword-and-board, and while he does have things to say about Dwemer ruins and not liking mines, when you're in "sneak", he's silent. He clears his throat and yawns less often than Lydia, too, which are things that can alert enemies to your location as well.
I would recommend picking up a follower skilled in heavy armor so they can tank all the hits for you and keep the enemy distracted so you can sneak in and pick them off; just give them boots with Muffle.
Personally, I've been very happy with Vorstag. He's heavy armor, sword-and-board, and while he does have things to say about Dwemer ruins and not liking mines, when you're in "sneak", he's silent. He clears his throat and yawns less often than Lydia, too, which are things that can alert enemies to your location as well.
I would recommend picking up a follower skilled in heavy armor so they can tank all the hits for you and keep the enemy distracted so you can sneak in and pick them off; just give them boots with Muffle.
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But, I also want someone strong enough even with little armor.
Your level and what you have access to will help me tailor a list of followers for you, but my preference runs for heavy. I wear light armor and sneak, so I prefer my follower tank. I did have a lot of luck with Janassa in Whiterun, though. Before I settled on Vorstag, she gave me some good support.
Janassa: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
Janassa: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
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Murder Them With Death
I'm level 83. and I only use Archery. :/
snapzit
Member
I had good times with J'zargo from the mage's college. He definitely knows how to sneak way better than bumbling Lydia. He's a powerful mage too, and has your back even before you know you need it. I gave him an ebony axe and Spellbreaker to add to his lightning spells and he was pretty much unstoppable. Besides, he's got that funny Khajiit dialogue that keeps me entertained.
sticky runes
Well-Known Member
Do you have Hearthfire? If so, Valdimar (Housecarl when you become thane of Hjaalmarch) is pretty strong, and doesn't mind using light armour, and he often uses alteration spells to strengthen his defences anyway.
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I have all the of the DLC
If you're going to take someone from the College, Brelyna actually has the sneak skill.
Brelyna: Alteration, Illusion, Conujration, Sneak.
I've read she often summons frost atronachs, so you could effectively have two followers, one sneaking and one a magical tank. Be careful when using mages, as some of the spells can hit you as well, if they stand further back than you do and put you in the line of fire. Less trouble when you also stay back as an archer.
Aela: Archery, Light Armor, Sneak, One-handed, Speech.
Obviously, as a Companion, you'll need to have finished the Companions quest line before she'll agree to be your follower.
Agmaer and Beleval: One-handed, Two-handed, Block, Light Armor
Durak: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
All three are part of the Dawnguard, and not immediately available. Rebuilding the Dawnguard unlocks them for follower use.
Any of the followers you can get in Solstheim are light armor:
Frea: One-handed, Alteration, Light Armor, Restoration
Talvas: Conjuration, Alteration, Destruction, Restoration, Sneak
Teldryn: One-handed, Light Armor, Destruction, Conjuration
Ralis: One-handed, Light Armor, Block, Sneak
Illia: Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Alteration
Like, Brelyna, Illia is also reputed to summon atronachs to help you and effectively give you two helpers in battles to keep mobs off your back.
Belrand: Destruction, Light Armor, One-handed, Restoration
Marcurio: Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Sneak
Both are hirelings and require no additional quest commitment from you to acquire them. Marcurio has no particular armor proficiency and is equally inefficient with Light or Heavy; he'll wear whatever you give him.
Gorbosh the Iron Hand and Lob: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
Both are orc. Defeat Gorbosh in hand-to-hand (The Reach); unlock Lob by finishing The Cursed Tribe (The Rift).
Adelaisa Vendicci: Alchemy, Enchanting, Smithing, Archery, Light Armor, One-handed, Sneak, Speech
Annekke Crag-Jumper and Derkeethus: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
Eola: Destruction, Sneak, Alteration, One-handed
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I personally haven't worked with these followers. My brother had Marcurio briefly, but it didn't work with his play style. I plan on using Brelyna with one of my current characters, but I haven't done so yet. Essentially, I can't give you an opinion of what it's like to work with the AI of any of these NPC's, so if you want specific opinions from people who have actually used them, I'd recommend doing a Google search to find opinion threads. I've used opinion threads to help decide follower choices before; they can give you some good pro's and con's to consider. Sometimes the con's listed don't even matter for your play style, but they can be useful to keep in mind.
Anyway, hope this helps, even if I couldn't give a personal opinion to back it up.
Brelyna: Alteration, Illusion, Conujration, Sneak.
I've read she often summons frost atronachs, so you could effectively have two followers, one sneaking and one a magical tank. Be careful when using mages, as some of the spells can hit you as well, if they stand further back than you do and put you in the line of fire. Less trouble when you also stay back as an archer.
Aela: Archery, Light Armor, Sneak, One-handed, Speech.
Obviously, as a Companion, you'll need to have finished the Companions quest line before she'll agree to be your follower.
Agmaer and Beleval: One-handed, Two-handed, Block, Light Armor
Durak: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
All three are part of the Dawnguard, and not immediately available. Rebuilding the Dawnguard unlocks them for follower use.
Any of the followers you can get in Solstheim are light armor:
Frea: One-handed, Alteration, Light Armor, Restoration
Talvas: Conjuration, Alteration, Destruction, Restoration, Sneak
Teldryn: One-handed, Light Armor, Destruction, Conjuration
Ralis: One-handed, Light Armor, Block, Sneak
Illia: Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Alteration
Like, Brelyna, Illia is also reputed to summon atronachs to help you and effectively give you two helpers in battles to keep mobs off your back.
Belrand: Destruction, Light Armor, One-handed, Restoration
Marcurio: Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Sneak
Both are hirelings and require no additional quest commitment from you to acquire them. Marcurio has no particular armor proficiency and is equally inefficient with Light or Heavy; he'll wear whatever you give him.
Gorbosh the Iron Hand and Lob: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
Both are orc. Defeat Gorbosh in hand-to-hand (The Reach); unlock Lob by finishing The Cursed Tribe (The Rift).
Adelaisa Vendicci: Alchemy, Enchanting, Smithing, Archery, Light Armor, One-handed, Sneak, Speech
Annekke Crag-Jumper and Derkeethus: Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed
Eola: Destruction, Sneak, Alteration, One-handed
---
I personally haven't worked with these followers. My brother had Marcurio briefly, but it didn't work with his play style. I plan on using Brelyna with one of my current characters, but I haven't done so yet. Essentially, I can't give you an opinion of what it's like to work with the AI of any of these NPC's, so if you want specific opinions from people who have actually used them, I'd recommend doing a Google search to find opinion threads. I've used opinion threads to help decide follower choices before; they can give you some good pro's and con's to consider. Sometimes the con's listed don't even matter for your play style, but they can be useful to keep in mind.
Anyway, hope this helps, even if I couldn't give a personal opinion to back it up.
Daelon DuLac
How do you backstab a Dragon?
I was going to ask earlier, but, isn't thievery kind of a solitary pursuit? (kind of like assassination). A team of thieves maybe, but why would you want a follower, even if they are a tank. Sneak, sneak, sneak, grab, sneak, sneak, sneak, escape. That's what I do.
Nighthiker77
Well-Known Member
Put some self-enchanted boots of muffle on anybody and they'll do a lot better as a sneak follower.
Dagmar
Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
Follower speech (and follower dog barking) will not cause detection. If they did Cicero's endless ravings and Barbas's incessant barking would have gotten my characters detected long ago. What will get you detected though is a follower who breaks sneak mode during combat which is pretty much every follower and why none of them are particularly suited for stealth combat.
The best you can do is choose a follower who favors using archery and when I say favors I mean they are coded that way and not that they have high archery skill (which is why housecarls don't fit into this category as they are still as prone to engaging in melee with an archery skill of 98). The followers who have AI coded to favor archery are Aela, Annekke, Derkeethus and Faendal. Aela is the best choice because her level cap is 50 and she also has high Sneak skill (which still matters even with boots enchanted with Muffle because there's a visual element in calculating detection by NPCs that Sneak skill affects).
Daelon DuLac
How do you backstab a Dragon?
That's good to know. I wondered why we didn't get noticed more with Serana babbling away in the background.
Nighthiker77
Well-Known Member
And Faendal will attack you for crimes hehe..
Agent007
Moody Dovahkiin
I've done crimes right in front of his face and he didn't do a thing. In fact, I haven't had any followers attack me for committing a crime.
Nighthiker77
Well-Known Member
Maybe they have to be big crimes. I shot that sassy noble in the eye and Faendal attacked me. Only 1 arrow and nobody hostile (except me) so there's no way he got hit by anything.
orca45
What we do in life, echoes in the eternity !
I don’t use followers and I destroyed the Dark Brotherhood, but I do use a lot of sneaking and because I am having fun playing like that, I don’t need followers because they give up my position and interrupt what I am doing all the time. I play alone and it is in my case, my best choice. Just my 2 cents ...
Hildolfr
It's a big hammer.
I've been trying to figure out a good sneaky follower while my level is low. I tried Faendal, but found he was way too anxious to attack stuff. I'm currently using Janessa and it's going ok, but soon I think I'm going to start going solo now that I've got my skills up more.
Everywhere I read, though, said that if you give your followers the right equipment, they can all be effective, for the most part. Obviously, some are better than others. I've still come to accept that solo is the best way to be if you want to sneak.
Everywhere I read, though, said that if you give your followers the right equipment, they can all be effective, for the most part. Obviously, some are better than others. I've still come to accept that solo is the best way to be if you want to sneak.
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Pack Mule.
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I don’t use followers and I destroyed the Dark Brotherhood, but I do use a lot of sneaking and because I am having fun playing like that, I don’t need followers because they give up my position and interrupt what I am doing all the time. I play alone and it is in my case, my best choice. Just my 2 cents ...
>_< I use them as Pack mules,
