Best Combat Skill to use with Conjur/Followers?

[Me Goosed Ya]

In most of my ventures through Skyrim, I tend to ignore any opportunities to have NPCs aid me in battle. I say this to make it clear that I have little to no experience with followers aside from those which were mandatory.

In my future build, I plan on getting my feet wet in Conjuration. Down the line, I want to be able to have a couple dead thralls, a follower and likely Vigilance. One may also have a staff to reanimate dead as well. Needless to say, it will get a little crowded.

I'm comfortable playing as either melee or ranged, not so much mage. My question is whether melee weapons or bows are better suited for this style of play. Which is less likely to cause me to accidentally hit my own companions, or miss out on the action because everyone else cleared the room before I could catch up?

I don't intend on using Bound Weapons, regardless of Melee or Ranged, nor do I want to use stealth.

Any thoughts from more experienced players on the best route to go with this?
Thank you.

 

[Shadow King]

In most of my ventures through Skyrim, I tend to ignore any opportunities to have NPCs aid me in battle. I say this to make it clear that I have little to no experience with followers aside from those which were mandatory.

In my future build, I plan on getting my feet wet in Conjuration. Down the line, I want to be able to have a couple dead thralls, a follower and likely Vigilance. One may also have a staff to reanimate dead as well. Needless to say, it will get a little crowded.

I'm comfortable playing as either melee or ranged, not so much mage. My question is whether melee weapons or bows are better suited for this style of play. Which is less likely to cause me to accidentally hit my own companions, or miss out on the action because everyone else cleared the room before I could catch up?

I don't intend on using Bound Weapons, regardless of Melee or Ranged, nor do I want to use stealth.

Any thoughts from more experienced players on the best route to go with this?
Thank you.

Im not an expert with mages as I hate magic (usually) but on the odd build I have made a couple great mages, I once done a conjuration build but soon saw that while I was casting I would get attacked if there was alot of enemys so I had to protect myself with sword in one hand and cast with the other, Its really impossible to use archery if u also want to cast off course the reason being u need two hands to hold/draw a bow and if u want to cast quick u cant because u have to put the bow away but with a sword u can cast without putting the sword away, also archery has great points but with ure build u cant afford to miss ure target so a sword would be much better because u dont want to sneak around and use steallth tactics.

also a little spoiler here for u if u have not completed dragonborn u can use a black book and have the ability to cause no damage to a follower in combat so there is no more friendly fire. and one more thing I wouldn't advise taking a dog along as they will die quick, u can get a dwarven machine follower instead of a dog which is much better.

 

[Jaeger]

Bran and Sceolang from the Dawnguard DLC are protected but not essential.

Protected means they cannot be killed by NPCs but can be killed by the player. Essential means they cannot be killed.

 

[electricskies]

I'd use a melee weapon, if you have a follower forget about stealth, they usually give you away too easily. Just have something close to hand. The enemy's AI will react to whatever you use. e.g melee they will stay away.... archery, they will run towards you.

Same principle with dragons, use a ranged attack and they will drop to the floor quicker than if you try to use a melee weapon while they are in the air.

 

[Drax Rifter]

Hey Me Goosed Ya,

All can work.

Bow's work, but are kind of a pain mostly because enemies move a lot in melee. You have to constantly position yourself to the flank of an engagement for best results. It's nice to get the drop on enemies with stealth kills. Getting caught in the open will leave you running while scrambling for summons.

1h + Shield is pretty cool. You end up tanking up front. Your followers add much needed damage and keep you from getting overwhelmed. A front line fighter requires life, stamina and many skill points invested into combat skills which makes for terrible synergy with summoning skill set...however once you have it it's very satisfying to be a death knight with two lords, thralls or wrathmen on each side.

Great weapons work very well. They have range to allow one for striking from behind followers. They pack a punch and require little investment skill wise. With a few points in smithing and block one can hold out fine without summons.

 

[Jaeger]

I'd use a melee weapon, if you have a follower forget about stealth, they usually give you away too easily. Just have something close to hand. The enemy's AI will react to whatever you use. e.g melee they will stay away.... archery, they will run towards you.

Same principle with dragons, use a ranged attack and they will drop to the floor quicker than if you try to use a melee weapon while they are in the air.

But the enemy runs past you to go after your follower and you backstab 'em, yeah baby!

 

[Drax Rifter]

But the enemy runs past you to go after your follower and you backstab 'em, yeah baby!

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Melee's are way to crazy to consistently set up a back-stab. Plus it takes too long to circle around for the kill.