Yup.
Never, ever trust a follower with a ranged weapon. They get you into all sorts of shit.
Serious value in this tip. I can guarantee that if you put yourself between a follower and whatever you are fighting, they will shoot you first. About the only way out of it is to one shot your target by any means necessary. This is the primary reason I avoid melee and play with either arrows or magic with a follower.
So...anyone playing this fine evening?
If you are, here's another tip for you, and one that reaps huge benefits in the early game:
Don't forget about the Atronach Forge!!!!
It's really easy to forget about, since there aren't a ton of missions that take you into The Midden (the area below The College of Winterhold), but it can provide you with some very, very useful stuff early in the game.
For instance: one Broom, one soul gem (Greater size or above, and it doesn't need to be filled), one Void Salts and one Orichalcum Ingot will get you a Staff Of Conjure Storm Atronach...which is an immensely powerful weapon to have early on in the game.
If you're able to find two of each ingredient, you can give one staff to your follower, and keep the other one. All of a sudden, your party has doubled from two to four (temporarily), and it takes a good deal of the enemies' focus away from you. They've got to now deal with two angry Storm Atronachs.
They can also be sold for a wicked profit, so if you're training with one of the Mages from the college, but you're running short of loot, it's a great way to keep the money flowing.
Thanks for explaining that! I seriously never knew what that thing did. The official strategy guide doesn't even mention it!
Sent from The Nether
Well, certainly as far as damage per hit, but I should be able to get my enchanted gear, and also created potions, to a higher value of 32% (per the experts), but I can't get over the hump of 28.
Just realized that maybe it's because I don't have the alchemy "benefactor" perk...
Yep.
Also, check what level your "One Handed" and "Archery" perks are at. To get the maximum damage of one handed weapons, I have "Armsman" maxed out at 5/5, and under Archery, I have "Overdraw" also maxed out at 5/5.
It's the combination of the buffed up smithing and appropriate offensive perks that will get your damage into the 600-700 ranges.
ALSO (and a major point):
I have dual enchanted armor and a necklace and ring that also raises my offensive abilities. This means that you'll have to invest in the additional perks under "Enchanting" - namely, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter and Dual Enchanter. For instance, if I'm using a bow and a one-handed sword, I'd have created armor that looks like this:
Helmet: "Increases Archery by 29%/Reduces cost of Destruction spells by 29%"
Gauntlets: "Increases One Handed skill by 29%/Increases Archery skill by 29%"
Boots: "Increases One Handed Skill by 29%/Reduces Fire Damage by 52%"
Necklace: "Increases One Handed Skill by 29%/Increases Archery Skill by 29%"
Ring: (same as necklace and gauntlets)
You can see that if you add up all of the skill increases in offensive power, you've pretty much gotten them to an additional 116% over what they would normally be IF you're wearing the enchanted armor...on top of the added smithing damage, and on top of the Perk buffs (like 5/5 "Armsman").