Poppy, the Iron Ambassador, has been a top lane sleeper pick for quite a while. Most players are taken aback by her tremendous mana costs and awkward early game, but if they can get past that, they find a terrifying mid and late game monster that can crush teams single handily, split push for quick towers, or just cause a scene in a teamfight. This little Yordel is never one to mess with, and if underestimated, can cause huge problems.

Passive: Valiant Fighter

All physical and magic damage dealt to Poppy that exceeds 10% of her current health is reduced by 50%. Valiant Fighter does not reduce damage from structures.

When playing Poppy, it's easy to overlook her passive, but difficult to overlook it. This small effect essentially makes it impossible to be burst down.

Q: Devastating Blows

Poppy's next basic attack is converted into magic damage and deals bonus magic damage equal to a flat amount plus 8% of the target's maximum health. Devastating Blow's flat bonus plus percent health component cannot exceed a damage threshold.

Poppy's Q is the bread and butter of her damage. Her Q is often underestimated when your lane steps in to trade, so use this to your advantage. Because it does percent damage based on your opponents max health, it's perfect for chunking down tankey champions when they step forward to farm.

W: Paragon of Demacia

PASSIVE: Upon receiving damage from or dealing damage with a basic attack, Poppy's armor and damage are increased for 5 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.

ACTIVE: Poppy receives maximum stacks of Paragon of Demacia. Additionally, she gains increased movement speed for 5 seconds.

Paragon of Demacia is an incredibly versatile ability. Not only does it make her more tanky passively, making duels much less punishing, but it can also be used as an escape. Try not to be to concerned with keeping a constant ten stacks, as doing so often shoves a lane up way farther than you want.

E: Heroic Charge

Poppy charges at an enemy, dealing magic damage and carrying it 300 units along with her. If they collide with terrain, she Stun icon stuns her target for 1.5 seconds, dealing additional magic damage.

Like Paragon of Demacia, Heroic Charge can be used both defensively and offensively. You can initiate with this into a wall so your opponent is stunned, or charge a minion to get some distance between yourself and your lane.

R: Diplomatic Immunity

Poppy focuses intently on a single enemy champion, dealing amplified damage to them, and becoming immune to all damage and abilities from enemies other than her target.

Diplomatic Immunity is one of the most powerful ultimate's in the game, acting in a similar way to Kayle's ult. Her ult has a tremendous number of uses, so we'll save it for later on.

Laneing

Early game, Poppy is incredibly weak. While her Devastating Blows are powerful throughout the game, she suffers from a terrible mana problem. All of her ability's cost an arm and a leg's worth of mana, so using them sparingly is needed. Without mana, Poppy goes down quickly, and can't trade nearly as well in duels. This is arguably her biggest issue, and because of this, most players shy away from her. When laning, use ability's as infrequently as possible to conserve your mana. Most of the top laners that are seen popular right now, such as Gnar or Maokai can poke Poppy down fairly easily, and as a result it's really hard to farm. The trick here is to pick up as much as possible while staying safe at the same time. If the enemy is poking pretty hard, going for the caster minions isn't the best idea. Hang back, play safe, and wait for level six if you have an overly aggressive lane. Once she hit's level six, she can afford to duel far more effectively. By initiating with her ult and then stunning with her charge into a wall, she's basically guaranteed a kill. Since her ult increases the damage dealt to an enemy champion, she can easily burst her opponent down for an easy kill.

When ganked, use the speed from her w to gain as much distance as possible, using her e on a minion if she's in position to do so. Using her ult on whoever does the least damage is usually the best bet, but there are a few exceptions. Notice that her ult also stops crowd control ability's from everyone but the ulted target, so taking that into account is also important.

Mid Game

Poppys first item should always be a Trinity Force. This gives Poppy everything she needs to be successful, from attack speed to health, and if stacked with her Q, the Sheen portion of the item provides an even bigger burst of damage. Once Poppy get's her Tri Force, she has her largest power spike, and unless she's several kills behind, she can pick up solo kills on almost anyone. Because of this, she can pull off some easy roams and help push towers pretty easily. Use the mid game to help your other lanes as much as possible to make as much use of Poppys Tri Force power spike as you can.

Teamfights

This is where Poppy really shines. Once the fight starts, use your ult on whoever is going to be the smallest threat to you, be that the support, the tank or even the jungler. As soon as you do, go to town on the damage dealers. The movement speed from her W makes it easy to zone their ADC or mid laner completely out of the fight. Once your ultimate is down, there is quite literally nothing the enemy team can do to stop you, and you'll be able to run wild in their back line for between six and eight seconds, plenty of time to pick up a kill or two. Once your ult wears off, stay in the fight until she drops low. Skating around the outskirts of the fight while low is a perfect way to bait someone into a Heroic Charge/Devastating Blows combo and burst them down.

Items and Sumoner Spells

I recommend Teleport on almost every top laner, as it gives them a great way to split push while still allowing you to put pressure on other lanes or possible fights. As for your second spell, Ghost is your best bet. Coupled with the movement speed from Poppys W, Ghost turns Poppy into a rocket ship with a really big hammer glued to it. During fights, it makes it impossible to outrun her, allowing her to kill off the damage dealers far easier.

Your final items should include a Guardians Angel, a Blade of the Ruined King, and the aforementioned Trinity Force. As for your remaining three, your options vary. One of the great things about Poppy is her ability to run either a strait damage or strait tank build and still be incredibly effective. A Randuins Omen gives you a bit more chase potential due to the active, and also makes you that much tankier. Hydra is nice for the extra damage and life steal, and also gives you a much greater split push threat by allowing you to clear waves far quicker. Ninja Tabi or Mercury treads are perfect for boots, and alacrity gives her even more chase potential. Your final build should look something like this;

Conclusion

Poppy is a massive threat in the top lane, and while her early game suffers greatly from her lack of farming capability and high mana costs, she more than makes up for it with her mid and late game prowess. Her ability to cancel damage and crowd control from every enemy champion except one is simply unbeatable. With so much mid game dueling power and late game team fight capability, Poppy is a force to be reckoned with in the top lane.