Nah water's perfectly viable at upper levels with the right ninja. I'm running Mei, Sailor Sakura and Ao, with Poison Tai and Reserve Seal Passives, using Monster Strength and Skewering with the low float chase and Monkey King and having no problem holding my 3rd position. And hopefully when we get GNW Sakura, I'm going to try swapping Sailor Sakura for GNW Tenten, and Mei for GNW Sakura since they have the same chases, just to try and use my bb GNW Tenten.
New water talents are great if you know how to use them, and tbh Neurotoxin's not worth using if you're not using chakra blade. Sharkbomb is much too iffy on the crit and there's too many immune or reflective characters now, it's a bit * to try and use it and expect it not to fail occasionally.