One of the biggest change for all Frost Mages from the upcoming Patch 3.3, is the addition of a Glyph which will make our Water Elemental become a permanent pet. That is the Glyph of Eternal Water.

Art by: John Avon

I’ve been very interested in this Glyph ever since it was announced, but never got a chance to play with it on the Public Test Realms. The Glyph wasn’t available yet, or wasn’t working correctly- until now.

I’ve already talked about my initial impressions of a Permanent Water Elemental HERE. Now I will talk about my hands-on play testing of the Glyph on the PTR.

PTR Bugs

Currently, as of 10/30/09 on the PTR, if you are using the Glyph of Eternal Water, and have any points into Enduring Winter, will actually cause your Water Elemental to prematurely dismiss.

If you have 1 point into the talent, your pet will be dismissed in 3 seconds, 2 points – 6 seconds, and 3 points – he will last for 9 seconds. So if you want to test out the Glyph on the PTR, remember to not to put any points into Enduring Winter.

Naming your Water Elemental

Sadly you cannot do this yet. It will still remain as Water Elemental [Utada's Pet] for the time being. Maybe they should add “Mages” to the list of classes to be able to use the [Certificate of Ownership].

Here are a few names that just popped in my head:

• Squirtle
• Blastoise
• Articuno… okay any Water/Ice-Type Pokemon
• Supah Soakah
• Squirts
• Glacius
• Frosty
• Puddles
• Mr. Freeze… oh wait, he can’t do that
• Spongebob

Water Elemental Behaviors

Currently, the Water Elemental doesn’t behave like a normal permanent pet yet. Right now, it acts the same as what we are used to now when we summon him- except Freeze is no longer on the pet action bar. And of course he doesn’t despawn after a certain amount of time anymore.

When you mount up, he doesn’t get dismissed like other pets, and will just follow you around. This includes flying mounts, except he can’t fly, he just follows you from below. During this time, he can get aggro from mobs he runs across, and will not attack back. Also, if you fly too high and far from him, he’ll just despawn. You will have to re-summon him after you dismount.

If you have your pet out, and you enter an instance, your pet will be gone- you will have to re-summon him. If you teleport with your pet out, he is gone when your screen loads. If you have your pet out when you get summoned, he is gone after you accept and are at your new location.

Hope this is changed to make it behave more like Warlock and Hunter pets. It was a pain to buff, and ask for rebuffs whenever my Water Elemental would disappear.

Water Elemental’s Stats

Currently, our Water Elemental gains a percentage of some of our stats. Blizzard is working to have more of our stats scale with our pets [src]. For now, we just know about Spell Power, Stamina, and Intellect [src].

• Intellect: 369 + 30% of Master’s Intellect
• Stamina: 118 + 30% of Master’s Stamina
• Spell Power: 33.33% of Master’s Spell Power
• Spell Hit: 100% of Master’s Hit Rating
• Resilience: 40% of Master’s Resilience (?)
• Critical Strike: ?
• Spell Haste: ?
• Spell Penetration: ?
• Spirit: ?

Water Elemental’s Damage

Currently, your Water Elemental can account for about 10% of your total damage in raids, that is with smart usage of Cold Snap, and good cooldown management. Now that your Water Elemental will have a 100% uptime, we can see that damage percentage go higher.

DPS-wise, on the PTR, I tested the Water Elemental out on Dr. Boom in Netherstorm (so I can also test Deep Freeze). Our Water Elemental can put up around 540 DPS with just an Arcane Intellect and Focus Magic buff.

We can see this DPS go up higher with raid buffs that will increase his Spell Power, Haste, Crit, and Damage. Also you can throw in a Bloodlust / Heroism for good measure. You can count on your Water Elemental to do some decent damage… but for how long?!

Water Elemental’s Mana

Sure your Water Elemental is permanent now, but not his Mana pool. Will his Mana be able to last a few trash pulls? Will it last a boss fight? Have no fear, your Water Elemental won’t be going OOM on you.

In my current PvE gear, my Water Elemental had a Mana pool of 4894 with Arcane Intellect. In a raid, it will be even higher with Mark of the Wild and Blessing of Kings. Not too shabby.

Waterbolt is your Water Elemental’s only Spell he can cast if you have the Glyph equipped. How much does it cost to cast a Waterbolt?

Water Elemental: Waterbolt mana cost reduced by 80%.

Thanks to this upcoming change, each Waterbolt will only cause our Water Elemental 35 Mana per cast. Is that enough to last a fight? Let us do some calculations. Each cast takes 2.5 seconds and 35 Mana each. So in 5 seconds, your Water Elemental will use 70 Mana.

Now let us look at Blessing of Wisdom and Mana Spring Totem. They will give you at least 91 Mana every 5 seconds. That is more than enough to ensure your pet’s Mana pool never drops.

No Pally or Druid? Well if you have any form of Replenishment, your Water Elemental will get 1% of his Mana back every 5 seconds. That’ll keep his Mana pool alive for a long long time.

Your Water Elemental can stay out forever, and cast forever- but can he stay alive forever?

Water Elemental’s Survival

Will you have to worry about your Water Elemental dying during boss fights? Not really. Especially not from random AoE damage. In Patch 3.3, all pets will receive and Avoidance buff.

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

This doesn’t mean you don’t have to move your pet out of the fire now. It just means that your pet can be healed through the damage now, but be nice to your healers, make it a good habit to move your pet.

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There are a few mixed feelings about this Glyph. Sure it helps Frost PvE to become more viable, but essentially just gives Frost Mages a DOT- the Waterbolt damage every 2.5 seconds.

For me, I’m just excited to see that Blizzard is trying to make Frost a viable spec. I enjoyed raiding as Frost before, and this change will just make it one less cooldown for me to watch for. This plus the Deep Freeze change has me itching for the next patch. If these changes can bring Frost DPS within 4-5% of Arcane and Fire DPS, I’m totally switching. I’ll make up the 4-5% with my Ninja Focus.

If this change goes live, then I will be updating my old old Water Elemental Guide. There is so much outdated information on there.

That is all I have for our Frosty Pet for now. For those of you who are also testing this Glyph out on PTR and have something to add, feel free to leave a comment.

Related Posts:

• PTR Patch 3.3 – Permanent Water Elemental
• PTR Patch 3.3 – Deep Freeze on Bosses
• PTR Patch 3.3 Testing: 20k Deep Freezes
• PTR Patch 3.1.0 – Frost Mage Replenishment
• PTR Patch 3.2 – Living Bomb on Multiple Targets