I have been tasked with initiating followers into The Blades. Delphine wants to do a bit of rebuilding of The Blades.
My question is which follower is most effective against a Dragon, since the next subsequent quest is invariably going to be to kill Dragons. Another concern of mine is say I get badly wounded, who can tank the battle the best against a Dragon?
I recommend any mage follower, specifically, ice and fire mages. Here's why: There's nothing worse than a kiting dragon, it flies around and then gets you with its fire/ice breath then it lands 100 metres away and you have to run over and by the time you get to it, it flies off to kite you some more.
Mages have a nice distance attack that they'll use on a flying dragon and then they can attack from a distance when it lands.
Archers also have a distance attack but dragons have weaknesses to fire and ice... So go for mages.
There are a bunch of them throughout the game. Try Marcurio, J'zargo, Brelyna Maryon or Onmund.
For a full list of followers and where and how to get them, go here
IMO, I'd suggest:
Janessa because she is good in heavy armor/weapons and is a fierce fighter (Found in The Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun)
Lydia she is also good in heavy armour/weapons and you get to get her out of her home. She has a lot of health and is EASY to get (Given by Jarl Balgruff after your first dragon if fought)
Uthgerd the Unbroken She is a fierce warrior that is ready for a good battle and doesn't settle for less. She is also a mature companion and isn't annoying like Cicero (Found in Bannered Mare in Whiterun)
Hope this helped you pick out your Blades!
I'm an archer, so I found it helps to have a Tank character who can take a beating while you fill the dragon with arrows. The same principle could serve a mage well.
Lydia (you get her as a follower after you kill your first dragon), with good heavy armour, works for me.
I've had no problem with mages like Eola and Erandur tanking. It might not be what they are best suited to, but you can give them equipment that gives them the advantage they need. They also are great about switching weapons to reflect their magica depletion and the range of the dragon. With Eola and the young telvani student from Winterhold, I'm careful to stay out of their way, as they can be pretty dangerous. I don't know if they're just glitchy in my game, or if the npcs I play with most will behave the same in other's games, but I just try them out and then suit them up based upon how they fair in combat. Eola for example is supposed to be a light armored sneak... nightblade, is it? Nightspell? Can't remember. But she always blows my cover and often sets me on fire, so all conventional wisdom goes right out the window. Suit her up good and she tanks as well as any battle mage.
Give them enchantments that speed up magic regen. Armor with health fortifications helps as well. Magic users draw a lot more attention from enemies because of the range of their magic. Eola is in Ebony because she always jumps the gun and ends up taking a lot of the heat in any scenario. Just something about her programming. So then I give her weapons that steal health from enemies, and regen fortifications on jewelry, and one item that mitigates some of the cost of her summons. Then I let her draw all the agro and pick off enemies with my bow or flank the dragon.
Erander for whatever reason moves slower, hangs back, and sneaks better. He usually doesn't attack a subdued enemy in my game and doesn't attack until after I'm attacking or have been struck. So I keep him lightly armored and heavy on mana regen and mana stealing enchantments. As long as I don't give him an area of effect type stave, he's really easy to fight along side. When he attracts agro he's really good about healing himself. Him and Esbern kept getting in fights, and he kept beating Esbern. Dunmer are also resistant to flame, so you can give him something with a resistance to ice enchantment and he's pretty damned tough.
The girl from Winterhold I've not used as much, but she summons an Ice atronauch and is similarly destructive like Eola. I don't know yet how good she'd be in different scenarios and types of armor. You just really want to support her magica pool and regen, and then stay out of her way. Once again, dunmer and fire resistant.
Ultimately, unless you are playing a version of the game that has been moded for higher difficulty, there is no mage I know of that wouldn't work. Skyrim isn't really that hard of a game. Frankly Eola used to make my poor Bosmer look like a damn fool. He'd be desperately trying to do damage, and then she'd be on the thing's head lodging a two handed weapon in it's skull while her flame atronauch is still shooting fire balls at it. She's a beast if you arm her well.
Any follower to whom you give the Dragonbane will do well against dragons.
