6 years. It’s been 6 years since Riot’s introduction of Poppy, one of League of Legend’s most difficult champions to balance.

Taking a look back at Poppy’s previous kit, what do we have? We have a champion that could theoretically take any item path and work (to an extent). Yet, there has never been a time where we have seen a meta where she has been exclusively considered a strong or meta pick. With her miniscule mana pool and zero escape kit, players have only considered her to be a one shotting troll pick for the last 6 years. Despite some immaculate professional play by players such as Maknoon, Riot has finally decided to give Poppy the rework that she most desperately needed.

The Hard Stats

Comparing some of her old and new values, we see that Riot has actually lowered some of her base stats. (Keep in mind that these stats are subject to change on release)

LIVE Base Health (559) --> PBE Base Health (540) NERF
LIVE Mov. Speed (345) --> PBE Mov. Speed (340) NERF
LIVE Base Mana (235) --> PBE Base Mana (280) BUFF
LIVE Attack Damage (62) --> PBE Attack (58) NERF
LIVE Magic Resist Growth (0) --> PBE Magic Resist Growth (1.25) BUFF

For more exact details about Poppy, please visit 11/24 PBE Update and Poppy's Wiki

You may have noticed that I hand picked only 5 of her stat changes. There is a reason to that. By just looking at these stats, we can already infer how Riot wants to change the identity of Poppy. With nerfs to nearly every base stat except scaling and mana, this could mean that Riot wants to slowly transition Poppy from the bursty Assassin/Mage/Tank/ Bruiser/Jungler creature that she was into a late game scaling tank/bruiser. At level 18, Poppy is among some of the highest Armor/Health/MR growths in the game. In addition, Poppy's high Attack Damage growth supplements the idea that she will either be defined as a Bruiser or Tank. Nerfs to her base values and scaling will make it a bit more difficult for her to continue her builds of pure damage.

Abilities

Passive: Iron Ambassador

"Poppy's Basic attack throws her buckler, gaining 400 range and [10 + 10 per level] bonus magic damage [18/14/10 @ level 1/7/13] second cooldown. The buckler lands at a nearby location and Poppy can pick it up to gain a shield that absorbs X (15% of her max Health) damage for [4/5/6 @ level 1/7/13] seconds. Enemies can step on the buckler to destroy it. The buckler automatically returns to Poppy is the attack kills the target."

Image from surrenderat20.net

Poppy's passive is my favorite part of her kit aside from her ultimate (more on that later). Melee champions have always had issues with poke type laners such as Jayce or Teemo, and pre-rework Poppy was no exception. However, Riot has impressed me with a unique passive for a melee champion that allows the ability to occasionally poke or farm at farther ranges without being completely poked out. Like most new passives these days, there are 2 parts. Poppy also has the ability to pick up her "Buckler" and be granted a shield but can be countered in the event that the opposing laner steps on it. This gives leeway for enemies who want to poke more or simply win a trade. With this new passive, Poppy should have a much better time in the top lane where she will generally reside.

Q: Hammer Shock

35/40/45/50/55 Mana
9/8/7/6/5 Sec Cooldown

"Poppy smashes the ground, dealing 30/65/100/135/170 (+.65 bonus AD) plus 6% of the enemies' maximum Health as physical damage, and leaving an unstable area. The Area slows enemies inside it by 20/25/30/35/40% and erupts after 1 second, dealing the initial damage again. Hammer Shock deals 80% damage to minions."

Image from surrenderat20.net

Hammer Shock is another form of evidence that Riot is transitioning away from the single target AP-AD-Assassin-Bruiser-Tank that Poppy once was. Poppy's Q provides players a more reliable form of damage and crowd control in team fights. Previously, Poppy's Q scaled with both AP/AD, confusing players on what the most efficient build path there was. Now, Poppy's Q not only only scales with AD but it also grants Poppy a reliable form of damage even while building tank due to its 6% max health damage. While this is still a nerf to her LIVE values, Poppy makes up for this with her Q now becoming AOE. With a longer range and CC, Poppy better coordinates teamfights and is granted a much better laning experience as well.

W: Steadfast Presence

50 Mana
24/22/20/18/16 sec cooldown

"Passive: Poppy gains X Armor and X Magic Resist (12% of Armor and Magic Resist). This bonus is doubled if Poppy is below 40% Health.

Active: For the next 2.5 seconds, Poppy gains 27/29/31/33/35% Movement Speed. While Steadfast Presence is active, she stops enemy dashes in an area around her, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+.7 AP) magic damage."

Image from surrenderat20.net

TL;DR: RIP Kalista. But seriously, with most ADCs relying on dashes as a form of escape, Poppy is going to become an absolute CC canceling monster in team fights. To put it into perspective, watch this video. To add insult to injury, Poppy does a surprising amount of AP damage per dash cancel. A .7 AP ratio still does seem a bit confusing but because of this we may see a possible hybrid build on Poppy (maybe Guinsoo's?). Coupled with her bonus Armor and MR granting up to 24% extra, Poppy will be a tough yordle to kill on the rift.

E: Heroic Charge

70 Mana
12/11/10/9/8 sec Cooldown

"Poppy tackles an enemy, dealing 50/70/90/110/130 (+.5 bonus AD) physical damage and carrying them forward. If Poppy carries the target into terrain, the enemy takes 50/70/90/110/130 (+.5 bonus AD) additional physical damage and is stunned for 1.6/1.7/1.8/1.9/2 seconds."

Image from surrenderat20.net

Aside from the change in damage and scaling, Poppy's E remains the same when the chosen target is pushed into terrain. I, for one, welcome our new Poppy bruiser overlords. Good-Bye AP Poppys!

R: Keeper's Verdict

100 Mana
140/120/100 sec Cooldown

"First Cast: Poppy channels for up to 4 seconds, slowing herself by 15%.

Second Cast: Poppy smashes the ground, emanating a shockwave that deals 200/300/400 (+.9 bonus AD) physical damage to enemies around the first champion hit and knocking them a large distance toward their Summoning Platform. The shockwave length and knockback distance increases with channel duration.

Enemies are untargetable while they are being knocked away."

Image fromsurrenderat20.net

Where do I even begin on this one? In the past 4 spells, we discussed about some of the changes that still kept the original identity of Poppy. Now? Fight or Flight. Literally.

Something that I've noticed about many melee champions, especially those who team fight well, are unreliable forms of disengage. (e.g. Vi, Malphite, Shyvana, Amumu, Maokai, Shyvana) Now, Riot has given us a perfect mesh of bruiser goodness. You'd think that this ultimate distance would be similar to a Lee Sin kick right? No. At max range this ultimate can knock a champion upwards to a grand total of 3000 units. That's 30 Teemos away!

Yes, this spell is great and hilarious but in terms of usefulness, what can we actually do with this spell? In prospect, I can only see one use for this spell at the moment and that is a niche disengage. Ganks may be easy to survive but how useful will this actually be in team fights?

Build Path

I've played a few games with her on the PBE and these are the builds that I've found most adequate on her.

Bruiser

In my experience, these 2 items are what I generally rush when I want to go a more damage heavy route. Black Cleaver is just amazing as an all around first item with its CDR and health while Deadman's Plate is great for chasing down enemies and ramming them with your E. Even when going against AP matchups, I found great success rushing the Deadman's Plate right after. These are the core items.

OK, now what?

This isn't a build website, so instead of creating a set path of items, I will just be giving a list of items that I have found success on.

Warmog's: Generally, this is an item that you will only want to get when you have fully finished your build. Adding a big chunk of health to supplement that W passive is a very scary combo.

Frozen Heart: Lately I've noticed, that this item has fallen in popularity due to a surge of new item possibilities such as Deadman's and Steraks. However, Frozen Heart is an item that revolves around a champion that can create an impact in team fights. Frozen Heart is an excellent choice coupled with her W active. Disruption is key.

Frozen Gauntlet: "Size of zone increase with armor" Perfect! With a low cooldown Q and an in your face attitude, Frozen Gauntlet is a phenomenal choice to assist in her chase potential and disruption in team fights.

Sterak's Gauge: Typically seen on bruiser builds, Sterak's is an item that I wish to do more testing with but so far I've noticed a sizeable damage increase while using this item even when full tank. I see great potential in this item.

Banshee's Veil: Banshee's is the go to MR item as Poppy does not naturally possess the ability to naturally sustain. However, this item should either be purchased against a heavy AP team early or in the late game.

Randuin's Omen: The staple item of all bruisers and tanks is back and oh yes, you want this on Poppy. Randuin's Omen is an item that I recommend on Poppy no matter what build you go, bruiser or tank. A good mix of health, armor and a slow make this a perfect item for our tank yordle.

Honourable Mentions: Frozen Mallet, Thornmail, Zz'Rot Portal, Ohmwrecker.

Play Style

So far we've covered abilities and items but let's really get to know how to play our tanky yordle!

Artist: Scofa (Careful NSFW)

Laning Phase:

As of now, I have over 20 PBE games of Poppy and I have to say, her laning phase is surprisingly good! Previously, in the case of any trade, Poppy would always be required to go all in, starting off with her dash to do any form of damage. However, with her coin throwing passive and AOE Q, Poppy now has a much smoother time in lane for trades and farming. Poppy's passive shield also gives her a much needed ability to tank some of the poke that ranged top laners are notorious for. And along with her new ultimate, avoiding ganks is extremely easy with its quick charge up time guaranteed to send them back to the jungle, literally. It has the range to do that.

Now onto the bad news, what happened to my mana pool? Despite, Riot's buff to Poppy's miniscule mana pool. Poppy still has trouble keeping up in trading especially against resourceless laners such as Riven and with the removal of flask and mana pots, it only makes the laning harder. An early E-Q combo uses almost a third of her entire mana pool and that's without the W. This may not be a bad thing though, this new play style will force players to be a lot more careful and greedy in their trades and harass, which was Riot's initial reasoning for the removal of mana pots anyway. To add onto skill, Poppy still continues the tradition of having no reliable form of CC. E is still a very difficult spell to pull off correctly and most laners will stay far away from any form of terrain.

If you're against a Poppy, stay away from these walls at all costs.

Team Fights:

So, you made it to the mid game. Great job! Here comes the fun part. Team fighting!

Unfortunately for Poppy, she isn't an engager. The only gap closer that could even be considered an engage would be her unreliable E. This is why it's paramount to get items such as Deadman's Plate and Frozen Gauntlet so that she is able to get into the fight as soon as possible when the action begins. However, if a teamfight does manage to break out, this is where she shines.

First of all, don't use the ult for damage. This was a glaring problem that I saw a lot of new Poppy players do. Rather than use it to remove high priority targets such as bruisers or tanks, I saw them use it to start off a fight strictly for the damage. While it can be used as an engage due to its ability to act as a mini Malphite ult, players should strive to use her ult for its amazing innate ability to physically remove any champion she pleases from the team fight. No other champion in all of League of Legends can do this, for this reason, I predict that Poppy could come in as a dark horse in both competitive and high elo play.

However, due to her inability to reliably engage, Poppy will act as the 2nd wave of power that continues team fights rather than begins them. This is one of her most underlying issues and I am curious to see how teams play around it. Keep in mind, while Poppy lacks the engage, Poppy still has an amazing disengage with her W and R.

During a team fight, only activate her W in the event that someone could potentially get near your carries. Poppy is there for peeling and disengaging, not one man carrying her team. If possible, ult whoever poses the largest threat to your carries such as champions like Vi or Maokai. There are few times where you actually want to ult carries like the ADC, but if you see a situation where it could be beneficial, feel free to do so. For example, you should do so when you're at low health and a fed Vayne is running towards your team.

Skirmishes:

In some situations, Poppy will straight up win you a fight in situations like Baron and Dragon. A skilled Poppy player will be able to knock away 2+ enemies and suddenly transform that grim 4v5 into an advantageous 4v3. Splitting up the team and single handedly creating situations where your team now has the advantage are what make Poppy such an insane power pick.

Final Thoughts

With buffs to the ADCs in the preseason, Poppy will be an extremely good pick against them, decimating them with items such as Frozen Gauntlet and Deadman's Plate. Quicker games equals more skirmishes; more skirmishes equals more Poppy! Unlike other PBE releases, I didn't actually find Poppy OP in any sense. Riot has given her the glaring weaknesses such as a continued mana deficit in lanes and the inability to reliably engage, which is extremely important because she's essentially built for team fighting. As Poppy dawns upon the live server, I am extremely excited to see how she affects both solo queue and the competitive scene.

Thank you for reading and good luck with the new yordle!

I would also like to thank surrenderat20.net for the resources needed to make this article!

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