Reins of the Crimson Water Strider

Reins of the Crimson Water Strider is an epic ground mount added in patch 6.0.2 of the Warlords of Draenor expansion. It is a vivid crimson-red water strider — a giant insect resembling a pond skater. The mount is purchased from Nat Pagle at the garrison Fishing Shack for 100 Nat's Lucky Coins at the "Best Friend" friendship level.

The mount journal quote reads: "Most folks use bugs for bait, but how could you look one in the eye and even consider it?" — Nat Pagle. The mount is a large insect with long, slender legs that glides gracefully across the surface of water and land.

• Guaranteed acquisition — the mount is bought from a vendor for a fixed amount of currency. There is no random drop — once you save up 100 coins and reach the "Best Friend" friendship level, the mount is yours
• Unique model — water striders have one of the most unusual models among mounts. A giant crimson-colored pond skater stands out against the standard horses and dragons
• Available to all characters — once purchased, the mount becomes available on every character of your account
• Mount equipment — owners of any water strider received the free Anglers' Water Striders equipment, which lets all of your mounts walk on water
• Collector's value — the crimson variant is one of several water strider colors and is prized by mount collectors

To purchase the mount you must meet three requirements: build a Level 3 Fishing Shack in your garrison, reach the "Best Friend" friendship level with Nat Pagle, and accumulate 100 Nat's Lucky Coins.

1. Build a garrison in Draenor and upgrade it to Level 3
2. Build the Fishing Shack and upgrade it to Level 3, earning the Draenor Angler achievement
3. Recruit Nat Pagle as a follower in the Fishing Shack
4. Catch lunkers in Draenor zones and turn them in to Nat Pagle, receiving 350 friendship points and 1 Nat's Lucky Coin for each
5. Reach the "Best Friend" friendship level (42,000 points total) and accumulate 100 Nat's Lucky Coins
6. Buy the Reins of the Crimson Water Strider from Nat Pagle and use the item to learn the mount

The Fishing Shack is a small garrison building that must be upgraded to Level 3 before you can recruit Nat Pagle and begin farming the mount.

Level 1

The Level 1 Fishing Shack is available immediately after building your garrison. It grants access to the garrison fishing pond and the basic fishing quests.

Level 2

To upgrade to Level 2 you must complete a quest given at the shack itself. The Level 2 Fishing Shack lets you summon Tiny Bubblers in the pond using a Lunarfall Carp (Alliance) or a Frostdeep Minnow (Horde).

Level 3

To upgrade to Level 3 you must earn the Draenor Angler achievement. This meta-achievement requires catching 100 enormous fish of each species in Draenor:

• Enormous Sea Scorpion — coastal zones
• Enormous Fat Sleeper — Nagrand
• Enormous Blackwater Whiptail — Talador
• Enormous Fire Ammonite — Frostfire Ridge
• Enormous Jawless Skulker — Gorgrond
• Enormous Blind Lake Sturgeon — Shadowmoon Valley
• Enormous Abyssal Gulper Eel — Spires of Arak

To catch enormous fish efficiently you need a fishing skill of 650 or higher. The higher your skill, the greater the chance of catching specifically an enormous fish.

Nat Pagle uses a friendship system instead of standard reputation. Friendship levels progress from "Stranger" to "Best Friend," and each rank requires 8,400 points.

Friendship Levels

Main Source of Friendship Points: Lunkers

Lunkers are the largest fish in Draenor. They are caught in open water in Draenor zones with a chance of around 1.3% at a fishing skill of 700. The chance grows as your skill increases: roughly +0.01% for each point above 700.

Each lunker turned in to Nat Pagle grants:

• 350 friendship points
• 1 Nat's Lucky Coin

To reach the "Best Friend" level you must turn in roughly 120 lunkers (42,000 / 350 = 120).

Lunker Types and Fishing Zones

Additional Sources of Friendship Points

Beyond lunkers, friendship points with Nat Pagle can be earned by:

• The Anglers daily quests (Mac'Aree, Krasarang) — if you are also building reputation with The Anglers
• Turning in special fish in Pandaria — three types of fish grant 350 friendship points each

Maximizing Fishing Skill

The higher your skill, the more often you catch lunkers. Use every available bonus:

• Bonus fishing pole — for example, the Ephemeral Fishing Pole (+100 skill), which drops from Tiny Bubblers in the garrison pond
• Worm Supreme bait — grants +200 fishing skill for 10 minutes. Drops from Tiny Bubblers
• Captain Rumsey's Lager — +10 skill for 3 minutes
• Nat's Hat — +5 skill permanently; activating it grants +150 skill for 10 minutes (a reward for the "Best Friend" level)
• Zone bait — reduces junk bites and increases the chance of catching the fish you want

Farming Tiny Bubblers

Tiny Bubblers are an additional source of Nat's Lucky Coins and useful items. To summon them:

1. Cast your line into the garrison pond
2. Use a Lunarfall Carp (Alliance) or a Frostdeep Minnow (Horde) as bait
3. Kill the Tiny Bubbler that appears
4. It can drop: Nat's Lucky Coins, Worm Supreme bait, and the Ephemeral Fishing Pole

Choosing a Fishing Zone

All Draenor zones are roughly equal in lunker catch rate. Choose a zone for convenience:

• Shadowmoon Valley (Alliance) or Frostfire Ridge (Horde) — close to the garrison, so you can quickly return to turn in lunkers
• Nagrand — many bodies of water near one another
• Avoid fishing in pools — open water is more efficient

How Long It Takes

At a fishing skill of 700 and a lunker catch chance of around 1.3%, you will need on average 77 casts per lunker. For 120 lunkers that is roughly 9,200 casts. At a pace of about 3 casts per minute, the farm takes around 50 hours of pure fishing time.

Raising your skill to 1,000+ (with all bonuses factored in) cuts the time by roughly 3–4 times. Use Worm Supreme and the Ephemeral Fishing Pole for maximum efficiency.

Originally, water striders had a unique passive ability — water walking. This made them one of the most useful mounts in the game.

In patch 8.2 (Rise of Azshara), Blizzard introduced the mount equipment system and removed the passive water walking from water striders. In exchange, all water strider owners received the free Anglers' Water Striders equipment by mail.

This mount equipment works on all mounts at once: equip it once and you can walk on water with any mount. The equipment can also be bought from Nat Pagle at the Anglers Wharf or in the garrison.

Nat Pagle appears in several locations:

Garrison (the main farming location)

After recruiting Nat into the Level 3 Fishing Shack, he appears next to your garrison pond:

• Alliance — Lunarfall (Shadowmoon Valley)
• Horde — Frostwall (Frostfire Ridge)

This is where you turn in lunkers and buy the mount.

Anglers Wharf (Pandaria)

Nat Pagle is also found at the The Anglers wharf in Krasarang. Here you can turn in special fish from Pandaria to earn friendship points.