Skyrim Followers: Essential Picks, Hirelings and Gear
Short answer: if you do not want your Skyrim follower to die, pick one of the seven essential followers. UESP lists them as Mjoll, Serana, Cicero, the two Dark Brotherhood Initiates, Frea and Derkeethus (essential only because of a bug). Every other follower is protected while following you: they drop into a recovery state first, but if they are hit again during recovery, they die for good.
You can have one human follower at a time. Animal slots and exceptions are covered under "How many followers at once".
On sources. The follower list, level caps and equipment rules follow UESP's "Skyrim:Followers" page (revision of 5 October 2026), checked on 13 October 2026. The essential status of Serana, Cicero, Mjoll and Frea was cross-checked on each character's own page. None of this was tested by travelling with each follower in game. The Steam update notes we could read (August 2026) do not mention any follower change. Names and quests we could not confirm against a localised source are kept as UESP spells them.
How many followers at once
- One permanent human follower. UESP's intro says one permanent NPC, one combat-capable creature and two non-combat creatures. The creature table on the same page says one NPC and one creature, so the sources disagree on the animal slots. Both agree on one human.
- Temporary quest followers do not count against that slot and walk with your permanent follower. The exceptions: the Companions questline dismisses your current follower automatically, and Serana asks you to dismiss yours for most quests.
- If the slot is taken, a would-be follower says you already have one. If a quest follower is holding the slot, finishing the quest frees it.
- Left waiting for 72 hours, a follower gets tired and walks back to their usual spot.
The seven essential followers
"Max level" is the level cap UESP lists: the follower scales with you up to that level and then stops.
| Follower | How you get them | Max level | Primary skills | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mjoll the Lioness | Riften; finish Grimsever's Return | 40 | Heavy Armor, Two-handed, Archery, Block | Can be married and recruited to the Blades. No DLC needed |
| Serana | Dawnguard DLC; you meet her in Awakening, and she can be recruited as an ordinary follower from the quest Prophet onward (UESP) | 50 | Sneak, Conjuration, Light Armor, One-handed | No health, magicka or stamina regeneration in sunlight, 50% weak to fire. Healing Hands does not heal her; UESP says she needs Necromantic Healing |
| Cicero | Finish the Dark Brotherhood questline and spare him in The Cure for Madness | 50 | One-handed, Sneak, Archery, Light Armor | Found at Dawnstar Sanctuary. If you choose Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!, he never becomes available |
| Dark Brotherhood Initiate (one male, one female) | Finish the Dark Brotherhood questline (sparing Cicero is not required) | 100 | One-handed, Sneak, Archery, Light Armor | UESP records a bug where they never walk back to the Sanctuary after being told to wait (it notes an unofficial-patch fix) |
| Frea | Dragonborn DLC; after The Fate of the Skaal, with Speech 25 or more | No cap | One-handed, Alteration, Light Armor, Restoration | UESP says she is the only follower with no level cap who is also essential. Dual-wields |
| Derkeethus | Quest Extracting an Argonian | 30 | Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed | Essential only because of a bug (UESP). As an Argonian he does not run out of breath underwater |
Serana's selling point is that UESP says she has the highest health of any follower. Being a vampire, though, she stops regenerating in daylight, which hurts on long daytime trips.
Which follower for which job
This is read from UESP's skill and level-cap tables. It is not a power ranking and was not tested in game.
- Do not want to lose them: Mjoll or Serana. Mjoll is a Heavy Armor and Two-handed front-liner and needs no DLC. Serana needs Dawnguard.
- Same follower into high levels: Frea (no cap), the Initiates (cap 100), Serana and Cicero (cap 50). A follower whose cap is 25 or 30 stops growing once you pass it.
- Magic support: Illia (cap 40, Destruction and Restoration), the hireling Marcurio (Destruction and Restoration), Teldryn Sero (Dragonborn, cap 60, One-handed, Light Armor, Destruction).
- Archery support: Aela the Huntress (Archery, Light Armor, Sneak, cap 50) and the hireling Jenassa (Archery, Light Armor).
- Want one right now without a questline: a hireling (next section).
Hirelings you can pay for
Hirelings cost 500 gold. They are usually in taverns and return to their starting spot when dismissed. Hiring them again costs another 500 gold, except for ones you have married, made a steward, or recruited to the Blades. If you dismissed them recently, or they are fond of you, they may rejoin free (UESP).
| Hireling | Where | Max level | Primary skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jenassa | Whiterun | 40 | Archery, Light Armor, Block, One-handed |
| Belrand | Solitude | 40 | Destruction, Light Armor, One-handed, Restoration |
| Marcurio | Riften | 40 | Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Sneak |
| Stenvar | Windhelm | 40 | Heavy Armor, Two-handed, Archery, Block |
| Vorstag | Markarth | 40 | Heavy Armor, One-handed, Archery, Block |
| Erik the Slayer | Rorikstead, after his quest | 40 | Light Armor, Two-handed, Archery, Block |
| Teldryn Sero (Dragonborn) | Raven Rock, Solstheim | 60 | One-handed, Light Armor, Destruction, Conjuration |
Every hireling caps at level 40 except Teldryn Sero.
Free housecarls from being a thane
Complete a hold's jarl quests, become its thane, and you get a housecarl. All of them cap at level 50 and favour Heavy Armor, One-handed, Archery and Block (Valdimar leans towards magic). UESP says they never flee from a fight.
- Lydia (Whiterun): UESP's follower table lists only Dragon Rising as the requirement. The sources word her condition differently (including whether Breezehome is needed), so this guide does not settle it.
- Iona (Riften), Jordis the Sword-Maiden (Solitude), Argis the Bulwark (Markarth), Calder (Windhelm).
- Gregor (Dawnstar), Rayya (Falkreath), Valdimar (Morthal): added by Hearthfire.
- Winterhold is the only hold that gives no housecarl.
Gear: what followers equip and which enchantments work
A follower only wears what they judge to be better than what they already have. These points save the most trouble:
- Anything worse than their starting gear is ignored. Giving Banded Iron to a follower who starts in Steel changes nothing.
- Robes do not count as upgrades for mages, since robes have no armor value. Give them real Light or Heavy armor instead (UESP notes an exception for the Archmage's Robes).
- Each armor piece or shield adds a hidden +25 protection, up to 125 for five items (UESP).
- Only some armor enchantments work on followers: health, magicka and stamina boosts and regeneration, Light and Heavy Armor boosts, unarmed damage, resistances and waterbreathing. Weapon and bow enchantments work normally.
- Fortify combat skills (such as One-handed) and fortify magic schools (such as Destruction) do nothing for followers, per UESP, with a few unconfirmed reports to the contrary.
- Followers' magic resistance is uncapped. UESP says stacking resist enchantments can make them immune to magic, fire, frost, shock and poison.
- Their starting bow can win out over the one you give them. UESP cites an old forum post that archers only use bow-plus-arrow combinations whose base damage lands between 15 and 22, and says Dawnguard changes this. That number is old and was not rechecked on the current version.
- Plain healing potions may be drunk to get them back up; potions you brewed are not. This is not reliable, so casting a healing spell (Healing Hands and similar) directly is the safe route, and it levels Restoration too.
- Telling a follower to take things can flag items as stolen if the container is owned. If you drop items for them to pick up, use stacks of 5 or fewer, or only one is picked up and the rest are lost (UESP).
Follower deaths and what cannot be undone
- Cannot be undone: you kill your follower. If an enemy or trap downs them, they enter recovery. If you kill them, there is no recovery and it is recorded as a murder. Be careful with area spells.
- Cannot be undone: they are hit again during recovery. A non-essential follower also dies if a damage-over-time effect such as poison outpaces their health recovery. Fight away from them.
- After a death: the body vanishes in about three days and their belongings go into a coffin in a Hall of the Dead in or near their home town. A courier also delivers an inheritance letter and a little gold (UESP).
- Cannot be undone: declining a follower's offer to become your Hearthfire steward. UESP records a confirmed bug where choosing "Let me think about it" means the offer never comes back.
- Can be fixed: a follower stuck in recovery usually snaps out of it after a new fight, fast travel, a reload or a healing spell. A follower you lost catches up after a loading screen or fast travel.
Where the sources disagree, and what is unverified
- Animal slots: UESP's intro and its creature table differ (see above).
- Frea's recruitment: the Fate of the Skaal and Speech 25 requirements appear on both her page and the follower list. We did not check what happens if your Speech is too low.
- Most entries in UESP's bug list are marked as fixed by unofficial patches (USKP, USSEP). We did not check whether they still occur on current Special Edition or Anniversary Edition.
