Epic pet vs Focused 60 Water Pet

[enjchanter]

Since no one will sell me an earth staff, I have a question for the masses of epic mages out there.

If you're in a setting where your pet will not be tanking and appropriate positioning is available, will a 60 focused water pet out dps the epic pet?

I understand the 50pt dmg shield on the epic pet is huge but it's no longer feasible to really solo anything worth while on a mage due to the aggro bug. So I'm curious strictly speaking on the dps , would it be better to use a focused level 60 water pet to backstab blue con's over the epic pets higher average hit.