Bestest Boi/Girl Follower

[Queen Yuu The Reclusive]

So, it's [Insert Current Year] and I've gotten back into Skyrim.

Who are the 'best' followers? Excluding mods, of course. Not looking solely for 'zomg top 101 parcs uber op' followers, but ones that are strong and have good flavor/character to them.

[Rez Elwin]

Excluding mods probably Frea and Ralis Sedarys, both from Dragonborn. Frea levels infinitely with the player and is capable of dual wielding(without forsworn weapons), You need to complete 'The fate of the Skaal" then persuade her to follow you.

Ralis is also capable of dual wielding but he also has "extra damage 2", a npc only perk that simply increases his damage. Ralis only has a level cap of 60 but his dual flurry and extra damage perks allow him to output some massive damage. Be aware he requires 11,000 gold & the completion of a legntly muti-stage quest to recruit.

[☼Solaire Of Astora☼]

I would say either Serana or Breylina (the dark elf from college of winterhold) both are good with magic and one-handed weapons (mostly)

[charbway]

best boy follower: faendal

best girl follower: faendal

[76561198187375418]

Girl has to be Serana
Male followers:
I always went with J'zargo because I tank and he gets distance damage
Cicero is also perfect for carrying items when stealthily looting houses

[R2-D2]

Illia.

[Melkolf]

Originally posted by R2-D2:

Illia.

Is she the one what gets you to help kill her mother?

If she is then I second it. She's by far the best side-kick in the game.

As for boys? Are there any boy followers? Never noticed any I'm afraid. Unless you include that Khajiit caravan guard what's had his Moon Amulet stolen (some caravan guard you were!) mainly for his comments.

[Carl!!!!]

Pretty much any of the mage followers for me for general use, but I'm a huge fan of Teldryn Sero. As for female, Illia, although she's dangerous if you're melee, as she fancies the Ice Storm spell a lot.

[Buggy Boy]

On PS4 I have a mod which adds a lot more NPCs to the game, which I think includes a lot more potential followers - every town and tavern is probably 50% warrior types who can be your follower (but only one at a time, still). I forget my current follower's name, he's a generic human warrior type, I gave him Falmur armour and weaponry and he's almost invincible! I say almost, several vampires can get the better of us both if they all attack at once, but otherwise he's very handy in a fight and we work well together as a team.

[R2-D2]

Originally posted by Melkolf:

Originally posted by R2-D2:

Illia.

Is she the one what gets you to help kill her mother?

If she is then I second it. She's by far the best side-kick in the game.

As for boys? Are there any boy followers? Never noticed any I'm afraid. Unless you include that Khajiit caravan guard what's had his Moon Amulet stolen (some caravan guard you were!) mainly for his comments.

That's her. The only problem is the buggy game tries to take her from you a lot!

[Melkolf]

Thanks R2-D2 - Been a while since I played her and completely forgot her name, although you mentioning her did ring a bell, down some long dark corridor in my mind...

[HazakTheMad]

Here is a list of all followers,
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers
P.S. there are a lot of male followers in the game, not sure how you missed them.

[Queen Yuu The Reclusive]

Originally posted by HazakTheMad:

Here is a list of all followers,
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers
P.S. there are a lot of male followers in the game, not sure how you missed them.

The OP was more about personal opinion than statistics.

It's about who you find as best boi/best girl.

[HazakTheMad]

Raya has been a long time companion of mine.

[DrNewcenstein]

Illia for mages wins hands down. She does spam the ice often, but it depends on her level. Get her high enough to cast shock spells above Sparks and she's an absolute murderer. Just get her before she gets Chain Lightning, because that just causes problems in mixed company. Great in a dungeon, not so much when Vampires attack in a city.

I only take Ralis if I need a sacrifice for Boethia. Bonus points for sacrificing him with the Ebony Blade, though. He is good in a fight, however. He's just more valuable at Boethia's altar.

Otherwise I would go for Rayya, Iona, Lydia, Jenassa, Mjoll, Jordis, or Uthgerd, in order of preference, based on their performances in Volunruud (best testing ground for followers IMO).
College mages are kinda weak, as they're College students. More experienced Housecarls or Hirelings are better by miles. Except Marcurio. He's a con-man.

Of course that's speaking strictly vanilla. I use my own follower-improvement mod that makes the good ones better, separates them all into tiers, revamps their skillsets, spells, gear, perks, and player-leveling multiplier, and a multi-follower mod so I can take a party with me.