[Top 15] Skyrim Best Follower Mods We Love

Updated:

03 Mar 2023

We know Inigo is fantastic, but what other cool follower mods are out there?

Normally, I’m among the group of people who prefer to take on Skyrim alone. Followers, as they are in the vanilla game, are often more trouble and annoyance than they’re worth. However, with a few good mods to tweak how followers behave in the game, you’ll want to bring a friend along on your quests! With all of the custom followers with their own backstory, questlines, fully-voiced dialogue, and more, you’ll find someone for your character to get along with.

15. AFT: Amazing Follower Tweaks

Just this once, everybody gets a horse!

Before we get to custom followers, we need to cover a mod that will make traveling with a follower much less of a headache. Amazing Follower Tweaks introduces a ton of functionality and custom options regarding your followers. This mod even includes the ability to have more than one follower depending on how much of a party you want to bring on your journey.

Features:

Ability to have up to 5 followers at one time, with optional AI tweaks to avoid traps, interact with environments, recharge enchanted weapon, and much more
Followers won’t ruin your sneaking in stealth mode, you can change their outfits manually, teach them new spells, and dismiss them but tell them where to stay
Turn followers into vampires or werewolves, manage their leveling down to each skill point, and many more features

Get the mod here./se version.

14. Companions and Followers

This mod has many new friends to choose from, including this kind Khajiit, Keiko.

Companions and Followers focuses on adding multiple followers instead of one really detailed follower like some of the other mods on this list. These followers fit perfectly into the vanilla game, so if you don’t want your game to be heavily modded, then this is a great choice for your game. This mod has no requirements as it uses the vanilla appearances (or any texture or appearance mods you have installed).

Features:

12 new followers scattered throughout the world of Skyrim with their own specialization
They each have their own schedule and places they travel to
You can see who you happen across relaxing at an inn or attacking a bandit camp or check the mod page to seek out a particular follower

Get the mod here./se version.

13. Followers Can Relax

They are sworn to carry your burdens after all...

One of the most frustrating things about traditional Skyrim followers is how utterly useless they act sometimes. Lydia is famous for just getting in your way and staring at you, never moving… it’s maddening! This mod gives you the option to tell your followers to chill out and do something useful in their downtime. Not only does it make them less annoying, but it really adds to your immersion.

Features:

The new dialogue option, “We’ll stay here for a while…” leads to different commands depending on where you are
Outdoors followers can do things like gather ingredients for you, or just take a seat and enjoy nature
Followers can eat, cook, or even sleep during the night if there is an unowned bed nearby

Get the mod here./se version.

12. Simple Animal Followers

The easy-to-use menu that you use to manage your animal followers with this mod.

I wanted to include at least one creature follower on this list, and Simple Animal Followers is much more than that. Instead of just adding or improving upon a wolf companion or something along those lines, this mod allows you to tame nearly any animal in the game! The mod is super straightforward with the spells you use to tame animals, and it is absolutely perfect for anyone roleplaying as a Druid character.

Features:

Tame nearly any animal from the vanilla game or from any creature mods you have installed
Up to 50 animal followers, with the ability to choose a home for any of them or summon them if they get lost
They are set to non-essential so they can die, so you’ll have to heal your animal friends (upon death a slot is free for another companion)

Get the mod here for SE.

11. Dralisi: Priestess of Azura

This mod has plenty of custom assets including armor and skin textures.

Dralisi is a mage follower who primarily uses destruction and conjuration magic. She has a few custom spells up her sleeve, thanks to her being a Priestess of Azura. Considering her connection to Azura, her being a Dunmer is very fitting. Her custom armor is a little more on the skimpy side than most of what is in this list, so if that’s not your thing you probably are better off with another choice.

Features:

Starts at level 10 and levels with your character up to 100
Two custom spells: Azura’s Blessing (heal herself and allies when health is below 60%) and Brain Freeze (combines Unrelenting Force shout with Ice Form, freezing enemies solid)
Custom skin textures and face paint with two voice options on the download page

Get the mod here./se version.

10. Pandorable’s Heroines

A look at one of the many followers in this mod, and how much detail is put into each character.

Unlike the mods I’ve covered so far that include multiple followers of all genders, Pandorable’s Heroines adds quite a few new female followers. Most of them had been previously released by the mod author as standalone followers, but with this mod, you get them all added to your game at once and two more that are exclusive to this collection!

Features:

8 new custom followers with custom UUNP bodies for each to suit their race and class
Each follower starts at level 5 and levels with your character indefinitely
All followers are marked essential, potential spouses, and have the lightfoot perk so they don’t trigger pressure plates

Get the mod here./se version.

9. Khajiit Will Follow

For fans of Khajiits: this mod features them exclusively and helps make Skyrim more diverse.

Vanilla Skyrim is full of Nord followers, so I wanted this list to cover plenty of the races that don’t have many followers in the game. This mod adds multiple Khajiit followers to your game, and plenty of other cool features to explore! If your character is a Khajiit looking to travel with others from Elswyr, or if you love Khajiits and are tired of the few the game has to choose from, try this mod out.

Features:

4 new fully voiced Khajiit followers, 3 male, and 1 female
All followers are potential spouses, have their own backstory, personality, and combat styles
A somewhat hidden new quest with its own unique reward

Get the mod here./se version.

8. Yashira- Custom Voice Redguard Follower

Yashira is a special follower who's trust you have to earn, which makes for a much more immersive game.

Yashira is a brand new follower with custom voice acting. She functions a little differently than most followers, and you have to earn her trust before she’ll let you do things like asking her to carry something. Over time, if you are kind you will earn her trust! If custom voice acting breaks the immersion for you or you just prefer to use vanilla voices, there is an option for that on the downloads page.

Features:

Custom voice acting based on the ‘FemaleSultry’ voice type with over 300 lines of dialogue
Multiple options upon installation for different body replacers, warpaint options, and hair variations
Choosing the wrong options when you have conversations with Yashira could make her dislike you, so you have to really consider how you talk to her

Get the mod here./se version.

7. De-zicrah- Custom Orc Voice Follower

Orcs are often overlooked in Skyrim, so why not bring De-zicrah along?

De-zicrah is created by the same mod author as Yashira, and her voice is custom as well. De-zicrah and her mother were attacked by a bear when she was young, and her mother succumbed to her injuries. This left De-zicrah all alone until a Nord hunter discovered her and raised her alongside his children. De-zicrah has been traveling Skyrim alone for years, but she’s open to traveling with a new friend.

Features:

De-zicrah is a warrior who fights with ranged and one-handed weapons
Once a day you have a dialogue option to allow her to help you train some of your skills
Tons of custom options available upon installation from hair, body replacers, warpaint, eye color, etc.

Get the mod here./se version.

6. Azel- Vampire Male Follower

Azel makes a great companion whether your character is a vampire or not.

Azel is a male vampire follower who can be found inside his coffin in Moldering Ruins. He is fully voiced with the ‘MaleEvenTonedAccented’ voice. This mod stood out to me for the unique character design. If you’re looking for a cool male vampire to accompany you on your travels, give Azel a try.

Features:

Unique textures and meshes and he comes with his own armor
Starts at level 10 with unique spells and skill
Lots of hair and eye color variations to choose from, and he is a potential spouse

Get the mod here./se version.

5. Miraak- Dragonborn Follower

Now you and Miraak can be best friends... or maybe more?

This mod is much more complex than you might imagine. Instead of just having a follower that has Miraak’s appearance, this mod changes the end of the Dragonborn DLC questline to make Miraak your ally. The two of you will have to defeat waves of Hermaeus Mora’s minions before you leave and return to find him at the Temple of Miraak. More details about the story and quest are on the mod page, or you can just download it and see for yourself!

Features:

Miraak is fully voiced through his existing in-game dialogue, a potential spouse, and will introduce you to his two friendly cultist friends (also potential followers)
Miraak can use shouts in combat so you’ll truly feel like a Dragonborn team
Patch available here if you’d prefer Lady Miraak in your game instead

Get the mod here./se version.

4. Geralt of Rivia Voiced Follower

Sorry Dragonborn... carrying all of your dragon bones is against the Witcher's Code.

If you’re a fan of the Witcher series and have ever wished to travel alongside Geralt instead of playing as him, this mod will fill your (oddly specific) request! Geralt is a very unique follower as he is very stubborn: sometimes he will do what you ask, and other times.. he won’t. Which will make him feel just like the Witcher you know and love.

Features:

Tons of custom dialogue, including some dialogue options that only appear at certain times of the day or in certain locations
Custom combat AI with new spells based on Witcher signs, and unique witcher potions
Dual Witcher swords (of course), and hair/armor textures ported from The Witcher

Get the mod here./se version.

3. Anna NPCs

These followers are espeically unique: they even interact with each other!

Anna NPCs adds quite a few new followers to your game, which is why I was so surprised when I read how many features these followers have. If you have SKSE and SkyUI installed, there are even more customizable aspects to this mod, so those are highly suggested if you don’t have them already. These characters will add a ton of life to your game, and all have their own quests.

Features:

10 brand new followers with enhanced AI: they are aware of your quests, fully voiced, can joke around with the party, ride horses, and more
Each follower has their own romance quests and unique weddings, if you want to marry a follower you’ll have to earn their affection
Some followers have their own player homes, and this mod adds new inns, ingredients, and more

Get the mod here./se version.

2. The Karlov Brood

The Karlov Brood have a lot of lore to read up on, which makes them feel like a natural addition to the game.

The Karlov Brood adds brand new followers belonging to a historic Vampire clan that parted ways with the Volkihar long ago. This mod is packed full of lore for all of the characters, and will surely be a great addition to your game. They each have their own unique combat style and are powerful enough to help you with even the toughest of quests.

Features:

5 new fully-voiced followers with their own armor, skin textures, warpaint, etc
You can find them at the Moorside Inn in Morthal
These new followers are a little overpowered, so they work well with combat overhauls or tweaks

Get the mod here./se version.

1. Kaidan 2

Kaidan asking the Dragonborn for help retrieving his gear from the Thalmor in his first quest,

Kaidan 2 is by far one of the most detailed, feature-packed follower mods I’ve ever seen. This is the second version of the mod with even more added than the previous version. You won’t find Kaidan just sitting around in a tavern waiting for you to whisk him off on an adventure: a quest you receive upon starting will point you in his direction. Once you’ve completed that quest, you can start your adventure with him!

Features:

Over 1200 lines of dialogue, including lots of romance if you wish (if you don’t want to trigger his romance questline, don’t start romantic dialogue while wearing the Amulet of Mara)
A dialogue prompt allows you to track him on your map so you never lose him, and he is aware of your quests and choices
He has his own player house, and if you want to improve his appearance even more, download Pandorable’s Kaidan replacer here

Get the mod here./se version.