December 15th, 2011, 2:53 PM
“Using followers is the best way to make the Dragonborn’s work easy, too easy even. A combination of Lydia, a conjured Atronach, and Barbas (Clavicus Vile’s indestructible dog companion) is the spoon full of sugar to make the dragon pill go down. Barbas is, of course, imperative to this equation. He is a royal pain in the *** when it comes to everything else, pushing you off ledges when trying to sneak around, making a constant racket barking all the time. But in front of a crazy ol’ Blood Dragon, he is UNSTOPPABLE. That does not simply mean that he deals damage, it means that most of all that he keeps the adversary occupied while you hack away from the rear, cast some major spells (which may kill a follower like Lydia but not good old Barbas!), and shout out as hell in between recharges. People if you want to make your lives easier, don’t finish Clavicus Vile’s quest. Barbas may be extremely annoying, but he has his uses.
1up migration post XV: "Dragon slaying too easy? Barbas the indestructible dog!!!"
The only thing to truly consider is that, the easier it gets for you, the slower your character progresses, due to the judicious “use it or lose it” choice of design made by Bethesda. The ultimate reward is still the same though: the bones, the scales, and the best the soul!
Any adequately hardcore Skyrim Dragonborn probably has heard or about Barbas and the interesting idea of holding off finishing his quest in order to keep him as an extra free follower. So the choice is actually all yours; he may make caves too easy at times, allows the use of incredibly destructive scrolls on enemies, but he also makes dragon slaying a little less much of a headache.”
Published
Zen Alpha Musings 