Welcome to my build on how I play poppy, by playing poppy as a hybrid you have a nice combination of sustained damage with autoattacks, aswell as a great burst which wil come in handy often.

AND, she's hard, but I mean really hard to kill when played correctly. This guide will show you how ;)

Pro's

Nice burst damage with devastating blow
Superb towerdiving with ulti
Great survivability with Ulti & passive combined with lifesteal/spellvamp
Speedup skill
Distance closer
you can move your enemies towards allies
When fully built indestructible

Con's

CC's disable your ulti
Bad farming
rather weak early game
Ton's of focus when they see you're owning (and you'll own 90% of the games)

I take greater mark of desolation

You'll have some armor penetration with the marks for some more damage,
a bit more survivability with the seals and quintessence because otherwise you're likely to get KO'ed and cc'ed before you can even use your ulti.
Also some CDR glyphs for more skill spamming.

I go for a 23/6/1 build.
you're an offensive carry so you need at least 21points in offense. the 15% magic penetration is a must.
I also take 6points in defense for that bit more survivability early game so you can reach lvl 6 easely
1 point in ghost, no need for explanation?

I start with a , why? because without health regeneration you're meat for ranged enemies. when you have 365gold go back and upgrade it into a philosopher's stone. Don't buy this in 3v3, you can recall alot there with short distance to be back in your lane

Why philosophers stone?
you're a melee dps, without any ranged skills, if you want some gold you will have to last hit minions, if you last hit minions you get harassed and you will have to recall.
more recalls -> lower lvl , less minion kills
Also you can last hit nicely with your devastating blow for even more money.
so trust me, if you want some money, start with this

Next you'll want to buy a and
sheen is core for poppy to make your Q hit tons of damage

which boots to buy?
against heavy CC teams, buy
if the enemy team doesn't have that much CC, just buy
If you want some extra speed you can buy boots of swiftness/mobility but i don't recommend them

Now I buy a for some extra AD, lifesteal and a passive which you should never forget to use. Once you have this you can also farm some jungle monsters or get red buff on your own. Now I upgrade it into a

The lifesteal and spellvamp you get from hextech gunblade are crucial. you'll find yourself focussed often in teamfights, use your ulti on a tank/support and start attacking their carry, you won't get much damage from their tank so with the lifesteal and spellvamp you should be able to stay alive

Next, upgrade your sheen into a which is also core for poppy, movement speed, slowing hits, and an amazing 150% of AD proc makes you deadly with just 2 items (trinity force - hextech gunblade)

Most of the games are about to end by now. usually I buy a
for some more kickass damage.

There are lots of other usefull items for poppy like:
Get this when you're dying from focus with CC's so you can never cast ulti.

great item for poppy, you can also buy this after you finish trinity force with another amazing active for poppy. buy this when your team still lacks AD
Note: you'll have 2 actives now (hextech gunblade + youmuu's ghostblade) make sure you've got the reflex to use them both

is also great when your team needs AD more then AP/hybrid

als good when your team needs more AD

Don't buy

you might like the active but this is no item for poppy, let a support buy this

The extra damage gained from lich bane proc is way smaller then the one from trinity force.
Note: I tested it and lich bane doesn't stack with trinity force. even though the one proc is determined by AD and the other one is AP, they don't stack as they're both built from sheen
Note2: If you have both lich bane and Triforce you will get the Lich bane proc when using a skill, don't ask me why

Good
Good chase & escape
Good chase, Use ulti & exhaust on a target to reduce dmg incoming to practicly zero

I really like this one in 3v3 games, great to escape over walls. if you take flash with you make sure to fight near walls to flash through to make a safe escape.
Also great to towerdive with your ulti , and once your enemy is dead(and when your ulti ends), you can easely flash out of the turret to stay alive.

Good to chase somebody that slows/snares/stun you and its also amazing against heavy CC teams that disable the use of your ultimate.

its another option against teams with alot of heals but its not the best option for poppy.

Valiant fighter:
Any damage dealt to Poppy that exceeds 10% of her current health is reduced by 50%. This does not reduce damage from structures.
Great passive for not getting KO'ed by that leblanc, surviving that cho gath's feast, surviving garen's ulti, that karthus, lux, or ezreal ulti, nidalee's spear throw etc...


Devastating blow:
Poppy crushes her opponent, dealing attack damage (+60% of ability power) plus 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 and 8% of her target's maximum health in bonus damage. The bonus damage dealt cannot exceed 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 / 375.

This will be your main damage output, combined with sheen/trinity force, you'll see why its called "devastating blow".


Paragon of demacia:
Passive: Upon being hit or attacking an enemy, Poppy's armor and damage are increased by 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 for 5 seconds. This effect can stack 10 times.
Active: Poppy gains max stacks of Paragon of Demacia and her movement speed is increased by 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25% for 5 seconds.

A great speedup used to escape, chase enemies or place yourself to charge that enemy into a wall so you get the bonus damage and stun.


Heroic charge:
Poppy charges at an enemy and carries them for a short distance. The initial impact deals 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+40% of ability power) magic damage. If they collide with terrain, her target takes 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+40% of ability power) magic damage and will be stunned for 1.5 / 1.5 / 1.5 / 1.5 / 1.5 seconds.

Knock enemies against walls with this, when ganking mid for example, run around so you can always knock the enemy towards your allie(s) to make sure your ally can deal enough damage.
It's easyer to land the stun when fighting in jungle or in the twisted treeline, so always try to make the fight start in jungle.


Diplomatic immunity:
For 6 seconds, Poppy is immune to any damage and abilities from enemies other than her target.

In addition, Poppy's attacks deal 20 / 30 / 40% increased damage to the marked target. For 6 seconds, Poppy is immune to any damage and abilities from enemies other than her target.

In addition, Poppy's attacks deal 20 / 30 / 40% increased damage to the marked target.
This is what makes poppy awesome, you can build for full offense AND be really hard to kill at the same time.

Who to use ulti on?
In teamfight you'll be wanting to use your ulti on a tank or a support

WHY? then you don't get the damage bonus on the market target?

if you use your ulti on their carry, it will end within a few seconds so the use of it isn't optimal either. and you still risk to be focussed down.
The ideal situation is to use it on their tank/support when you're at 25-50% health. they still see you at low hp so they'll all start attacking you without having any use. because the tank/support barely deals damage you regain health with the lifesteal and spellvamp you gain from hextech gunblade. by the time your ulti ends, the enemy team's carries should be dead so now its time to kill the tanks who don't have enough damage output to finish you off.

Another trick in 3v3 (sometimes 5v5) is using your ulti on their ad carry and then exhausting him... this will have the same effect, not much incoming damage and you can get their carries down amazingly quick

Thank you for reading this guide.

I would love to have some feedback on this guide.
If you think i'm wrong somewhere in my guide, you can tell it and if you're right, i'll be happy enough to admit it so I can improve this guide.

Remember to vote at top of the topic, thank you.