2 summoned whatever with 100 conjuration skill ... if you go off a cliff you need just resummon something and the other one will disappear. Granted if you have a particularly powerful dead thrall you don't want to part with it could be more difficult. Usually I just use dremora for the hard stuff. Dremora are far more powerful then anything else but there is no thrall for them.

the only one that did not annoy/bore me so far was kharjo. I stopped using him when he started getting downed by a single arrow shot, but his dialogue is minimal, and his voice is cool.

I married the dark elf, and am pleased as punch about it. Offensive magic plus summoning the fire and ice dudes? Love it.

Benor Tom Morthal

Picked up Jordis at lvl 33. She is proving to be deadly with some daedric gear.

Marcurio. He kicks ass, stays way back out of the way, and I married him so he accumulates money for me from his store.

I use Volstag.

Note that Lydia has very limited combat capabilities that are especially a problem at Master difficulty. You can check her skills with "getav heavyarmor" for example. She constantly is defeated or killed where Volstag is seldom. I armored him in well enchanted ebony with a shield and ebony sword and he does very well. He uses the bow to much though.

to be honest, all killable melee companions are stupid. they have a habit of running infront of me when i shout.

i find that quest based companions give more talk and remarks than simple pay for hire or brawl companions. i used erandur for a while and he was good and gave far more interesting speeches than some random orc i brawled.

I won over http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Aranea_Ienith early on but didn't have her follow until much later and she died a quick death in battle. Same with http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Onmund. Last night I hired http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Marcurio, dual enchanted him a full set of Glass Armour and took him for a spin. So far, so good.

I think Mjoll is a pretty cool follower. Seh protects riften and doesn’t afraid of anything.

i like aela, she cant die and tends to stay out of my way firing arrows..the other companions rush in and get killed or get in my line of fire

Quick question. Which followers have you found summoned the most often?
Currently I run with the priestess of Azura but if there is a better companion out there (Necromancer or Atronach summoner or even better if the guy summons Dremora) I would gladly use that person.

Illia for me.

I was using Vorstag for a tank until I ran into her. Those destruction spells of hers just rip through anything, even Vigilance..

After level 50 Aranea Ienith is virtually indesctructible. Only high-level Falmer and SWARMS of Draugr can bring her to her knees.

picks so far... I left out ones that were abandoned or dissed for being weak..

Marcurio 6

Aranea Ienith 4

Nobody.. they get in the way 3

Mjoll 3

Cicero 3

Erandur 3

Illia 2

aela 2

Jordis 2

Sven 2

Argis the Bulwark

Ghorbash

Benor

Volstag

Eola

Kharjo

Lydia

Barbas

Brelyna Maryon

Janassa

That skinny, smart-mouthed Imperial Mage seems quite popular. I actually used Marcurio once and while my warrior was running around looking for a way into a certain fort Marcurio took out the four archers that were raining arrows down on me. It was kind of embarrassing.

I've had a total of four followers:

Lydia: Same as everyone, really. She was crabby and quiet and liked to run in front of me as my Warhammer was making its unstoppable descent, but she was still a right badass, and seemed to favor interesting weapons combos. I'll never forget the few hours where she went to town dual-wielding a Staff of Chain Lightning and a Staff of Flames. That was pretty entertaining. We got to be a good pair, she and I. I considered swapping her out a few times, but after awhile, I got pretty attached to the ol' girl. I resolved to stick with her through the bitter end. That is, until I met...

Ghorbash the Iron Hand: I kinda felt bad for him, since he really wanted to leave the Orc stronghold he was stuck in, and head back out for more adventure. Plus, he was an Orc, born to fight, and could probably handle a lot more of my pack-mule artifacts. So, I figured I'd give Lydia and honorable retirement, take her gear, store it, and go back for him. And that's what I did. But he had no sooner agreed to join me when Dushnikh Yal was immediately - and I mean as soon as I backed out of the dialogue tree where I hired him - attacked by a Frost Dragon. At the end, the only three left standing were me, the Chief, and the Smith. Ghorbash died before we could even take a single step together. So, I took that as a sign, and went back for Lydia, who I kept for another week or so. And then she got lost somewhere in the wilds. I just suddenly turned around at one point, and she was gone. "Ah, she'll catch up," I figured. "She always does." Not that time. I never saw her again. She never turned up at Dragonsreach or Breezehome, either. I still sorta miss her. *(Snif.)* Plus, wherever she is, she's got a full set of Legendary Enchanted Dragon Bone Armor I'd kinda like to have back. That is, unless she sold it, bought a little cottage somewhere in Hjaalmarch, and is just hiding out being her OWN Housecarl. In which case: Good for her, then.

Mjoll the Lioness was next. She's a little chattier than Lydia, but also better with weapons, and slightly less prone to suicidal hammer-magnetism. And she's a lot more chipper about carrying my crap, so that's nice. She hung around until she was dismissed by circumstance, when Farkas (or was it Vilkas...?) appointed himself my follower on a particular Companions quest. And after THAT was over with, I made a beeline back to Riften to re-hire her. But, before I did, as long as I was "unattached" at the moment, I ponied up the 500 Septims for the services of...

Marcurio. And I kept him as a follower just long enough to run over and sacrifice him to Boethiah. Yeah, I know. I did it on purpose, though. The others had followed me on honor or principle, but he was just doing it for the coin...And I spare no respect for a sell-sword. Bloody mercenaries. No loyalty at all.

Then I picked up Mjoll again, and we seem set to see this thing out.

I've had good experiences with Mjoll and Jenessa (that Dunmer ranger sell-sword). Mjoll just beasts it up with her two-hander and Jenessa is really good with the bow.

I'd like one that will use the Staff of Sanguine I give to them while preferring to sit back and use magic and/or bows and not walk up to them melee style, not that they won't be able to with their enchanted legendary armor. But that's what the dremora lords are for. The only follower experience I have is with the stray dog found near riverwood up in the hills in the snow fighting some wolves.

I am with you on her, she is not that good looking or talking but she is no wus. Unfortunately I lost her by forgetting that I told her to wait and went to sell some loot, which as you know takes forever with waiting 48 hours for more money. I went back to where I picked her up but she was not there.

Because the game is crap with poor programmers, I am reloading it now after over 300 hours and will try keep her this time

Faendal.

Has leveled (finally) his sneak and archery. We laugh (softly) as we creep about.

Ohh.... You really should watch Manggs Let's Play (part 48).. Though he fails fairly often in getting to graps with the gaming mechanics... This fail is pretty epic, as well as his comments.. (Hint Meeko and Illia.. )
(Since it is a commercial site.. url would be spamming)

Mjoll the Lioness... she never dies.

Anyone know if the dismiss bugs been fixed for Illia yet? as i'd like to have her as a companion, been holding back on meeting her so far.

I like Marcurio. He's a little arrogant, but he's intelligent, powerful and always has my back. Rarely goes down since he specializes in destruction.