Ok, so im having a dilemme... I used Illia for about 50 lvls, she was amazing.. Ofcourse i lost her to a questline, and shes no longer obtainable, so i went after J'zargo, and im now 71...His sparks r so weak, theyre not even making a dent on master.. I understand followers can lvl, and he is one who has no lvl cap.. How do i make them lvl, or do they gain a lvl when i do
? If thats the case, am i screwed since lvls will now coem MUCH slower at my lvl? Illia was great having had her for so long, her spells nearly 2-3 shotted everything we encountered...

All followers will scale to your level in the latest version of Skyrim. J'zargo is special because even though he gets more health and magicka, his spell inventory doesn't update. Even then, his AI prefers casting sparks when he has access to lightning bolt.

Yes the followers will scale to your level. Maybe you should go with Odmund instead of J'Zargo, as he will continue to use his sparks.

Ok, yea im not liking J'Zargo, AT ALL... All he casts is sparks, and refuses to use any staff i give him.. Tho hell walk around with them... GOD i miss 'Illia'... She was boss, and she used any and every staff sdhe was given.. Her dmg was second to none so far...

So what your saying is, now that im 72 when i recruit a new follower, theyll simply jump up to where im at in level? or do they need to lev el up?

And just so i know for future refereence, what does make them level? Or is it that they level when i do?

Ty for your respnses XD

PS: Im playing a heavy armored Paladin type class.. Sword&Shield, Heavy Armor, Restoration, Alteration...And ofcourse Blacksmith, Enchant, Speech, and Alchemy.. I went with mage, as it perfctly compliments my class/playstyle..

They will level as you do. When you recruit one, he/she will be at your level... or their max level. Different followers will have different max levels.

EDIT : Here is the handy https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0Aly8njaU3H1adGJYTlJaUnRxRUN2RnM5MkxPaU1mQkE&toomany=true.

Ahhh... it doesn't contain the followers from the Official Mods. Best to use the UESP for more info.

Huh ... I had no problems with J'Zargo. But, I do remember reading he'll always prefer lighting spells. It seems I recall something about he has his own "sparks" spell. It appears like just regular sparks spell but does a lot more damage. Wherever I read that they also stated that sometimes he can steal your dragon kills because of how his lightening spells work.

Yea i cant get him to do anything beyond sparks, and they show no he loss of any enemy above beginner lvl bandits/animals.. I can no longer take it, and am seriously considering sacrificing him to the next thing i can find.. If nothing else, my Ebony Blade, lol!

Tyvm for the clarification.. Then it just makes no sense... Im now at 72, and he only uses sparks, and they just do NO dmg..Ive run into some extremely low lvl mudcraps, and regular 'Bandits', and those he does about 1/3 of their hp in dmg.. anything higher, i see no drop in the enemy hp bar... I just dont get it..

That's because low level enemies just have low health. Thus you will see a bigger hit to the bar. Difficulty has no effect on NPC or followers. Difficulty only affects the damage you deal and receive.

Sparks only deals 8 damage per second. It's a Novice level spell. If that's all he is using, then it's just bad mechanics with his AI.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Marcurio is a beast. Don him in a full set of quality Heavy armor, a good staff and let him go. He will cast Lightning Bolt on a regular basis. He also has a high sneak.

Dam..l. Mercurio was one of my sacrifices to Ebony Blade... I had no idea how few mage followers there were at the time...Dam! Illia, 1x use is up (she also has swseveral of my daedric artifacts, and my fully upgraded Dragonscale armor set...J'Zargo, worthless... Mercurio, dead...Guess i could use the other guys from the college "Onmund", or the Azura woman... She wasnt totally worthless, more like mediocre... But atleast she uses Ice Spike, and i think the staves if u give them to her...Ive given J'Zargo about 12 staves, and he uses none, other thaan the occasional summon of sanguin rose...

Again, thx for your help

You are most welcome.

If you have Hearthfire, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Valdimar is badass. He is the only mage Housecarl. He throws Ice Spice a lot. Give him a 1H weapon with Absorb Magicka and he's pretty damn tuff.

I don't use many mage followers but I can vouch for those two.

I relly like Erandur, but to get him you need to destroy the Skull of Corruption... Well worth it imo. Other then him, I'd say Aranea (the Dunmer from Azura's Shrine) is OK, and I like Brelyna from the College because of her Conjurations.

I never really liked Ilia much xD