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 Fishing Shack in your garrison for 100 Nat's Lucky Coins once you reach the "Best Friend" friendship level.

The mount journal quote reads: "Folks usually use bugs as bait, but how could you look one in the eye and even think about it?" — Nat Pagle. The mount is a large insect with long, slender legs that gracefully skims 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 — as soon as 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 all mounts. A giant crimson pond skater stands out against the standard horses and dragons
• Available to all characters — once purchased, the mount becomes available on every character on 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 buy 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 save up 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 by earning the Draenor Angler achievement
3. Recruit Nat Pagle as a follower at the Fishing Shack
4. Catch lunkers in the zones of Draenor and turn them in to Nat Pagle, earning 350 friendship points and 1 Nat's Lucky Coin for each
5. Reach the "Best Friend" friendship level (42,000 points total) and save up 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 start farming the mount.

Level 1

The level 1 Fishing Shack is available right after you build your garrison. It grants access to the fishing pond in your garrison and the basic fishing quests.

Level 2

To upgrade to level 2 you must complete a quest given inside the shack itself. The level 2 Fishing Shack lets you summon Lunarfall Murlocs in the pond using Lunarfall Carp (Alliance) or 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

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

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

The Main Source of Friendship Points: Lunkers

Lunkers are the largest fish in Draenor. They are caught in the open water of Draenor zones with about a 1.3% chance at fishing skill 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 need to turn in roughly 120 lunkers (42,000 / 350 = 120).

Lunker Types and Catch Zones

Additional Sources of Friendship Points

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

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

Maximizing Fishing Skill

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

• A bonus fishing pole — for example the Ephemeral Fishing Pole (+100 skill), which drops from the Lunarfall Murlocs in your garrison pond
• Worm Supreme bait — grants +200 fishing skill for 10 minutes. Drops from Lunarfall Murlocs
• Captain Rumsey's Lager — +10 skill for 3 minutes
• Nat's Hat — +5 skill permanently, with an activation that grants +150 skill for 10 minutes (a reward for the "Best Friend" level)
• Zone-specific bait — reduces junk bites and increases your chance of catching the fish you want

Farming Lunarfall Murlocs

Lunarfall Murlocs 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 Lunarfall Carp (Alliance) or Frostdeep Minnow (Horde) as bait
3. Kill the Lunarfall Murloc that appears
4. They 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. Pick a zone for convenience:

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

How Long It Will Take

At fishing skill 700 and a lunker catch chance of about 1.3%, you will need an average of 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) 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, every water strider owner 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 on any mount. The equipment can also be bought from Nat Pagle at the Anglers' Wharf or in your garrison.

Nat Pagle can be found in several locations:

Garrison (the main farming location)

After you recruit Nat into the level 3 Fishing Shack, he appears next to your garrison pond:

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

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

Anglers' Wharf (Pandaria)

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