Welcome to Poppy Supports your Heart, Brah! Poppy is an underestimated champ that can be very effective against enemy ADCs in the bottom lane. She dominates even more if there are two squishies at bottom. Why master this champ? Because she is hard to kill and deals nice stuns early game to allow your ADC to take advantage of out of position enemies and get fed early. Once she hits level 6 enemies won't know what to do because you can turret dive like a boss and absorb hella damage while your ADC and jungle destroy your opponents and towers.

Pros

Unexpected Champ Selection

High Movement Speed

High Damage Absorption

Great Turret Diver

Scrappy as H3LL!

Cons

Hard to position

Lower Health than other tanks

Can be kited

Doesn't offer shields or healing for your ADC

During the laning phase Poppy will have to play a tad bit aggressive while your ADC secures creep kills. Position her as close to the enemy as possible to absorb pokes (dodge them if you can) and keep the other ADC from CS. Make sure to keep wards around as bush control is as important for Poppy as CS is for ADCs. Why? Well for example, if you allow the enemy team to control the bushes, Poppy cannot use her E to smash their ADC into a wall. They will constantly pop in an out of the bush, reducing the chances that you will be able to spam E and stun them.

If you know you are in a position to score a kill or the enemy is 1/2 health make sure to use Ghost and W at the same time to run past the enemy ADC/Support and knock them into:

A wall

A turret

A minion

Or back towards a large group of your own minions

Once your opponent is stunned or placed where you need him, unleash with a quick Q, auto-attack and Q.

Once your opponent is dead, determine whether or not you should chase. Poppy excels at chasing with W, but try not to spam it or you will be returning to your Nexus to replenish mana often. W is a HUGE mana sink and should only be used when you really need it to reposition, get a last hit or escape from the enemy jungler's ganks.

I often return to base once we score the kill, because I usually have the money to purchase something. I recommend having your ADC return each time you do to ensure your team's gear is as up to date as theirs. Remember, once you kill someone, they will almost ALWAYS upgrade their gear and even though your level might increase, you may fall prey to a heavier geared ADC. My philosophy is "If you killed them once with equal gear, you will do it again, unless they outgear you." You will have to make this call each time based on several factors:

Does the tower NEED to be pushed right now?

How much health do you have?

Are their minions/champs countering with a tower push?

Will that extra wave of minions you are killing provide you with enough gold to purchase a large ticket item (Sheen, Guardian Angel, etc.)?

Which leads me to one last reason for not returning to your Nexus to resupply:

HELP GANK MID!
Sometimes it is incumbent upon you with your speedy little champ to haul-a$$ down to mid and help remove pressure there. Be sure to ward the river while you travel down and wait (not too long) for that opportune moment to smash their Mid into anything you can while your team destroys him. Don't worry about who gets the last hit. JUST KILL HIM!

Once laning is over, Poppy will usually become the Main Tank with this build. Always communicate with your team to find out who will be doing what. If you hit TAB and see another champ like a Top Laning Shen is building all tank, then start taking more damage items. With this build, Poppy is a Tank/AD. This doesn't make her great at taking anyone down fast, but it provides just enough mana to perform a few combos while allowing your AA to ***** away at their health. As a Tank/OT/Support, you MUST find their squishiest champ and slam them against anything and everything to keep them out of team fights.

Always position yourself so that your E can remove their ADC or their bursty AP from the picture. Sometimes this means you have to wait for the other team to initiate. If you have your Ultimate ready, pop it on a low damage dealer and W your way to the back where you can E and Q the enemy squishy.

Team objectives are usually WAY more important than securing a kill, so if you can dual up with your ADC and catch a lone enemy under his turret, go there first! Remember, you have the ultimate turret diving capabilities with R. Just pop that on the turret hugger, E him against his own turret and let your ADC tear him apart while you absorb turret damage. Once he is dead or runs away, continue chipping away at the turret to secure 150g and one step closer to their Nexus. Your Q can be used on turrets, so use it!

Late game is where Poppy shines. Hopefully, you have smacked their squishies around long enough that they are demoralized and A)Have applied the Poppy Global Taunt to you OR B)Run like the scaredy pants they are.

By this time, your team should be snowballing, so keep up the same routine. Ghost and W for positioning. E for stun, followed up with a Q to the face. Use your ult when more than one enemy is around (including turrets).

If you have found yourself behind...oh geez. Since Poppy has a hard time pushing lanes, just follow and protect the one guy that is doing well. Help him farm, keep enemies off him while he farms and WARD! Most games I lose with Poppy are because there is a complete lack of map awareness. Encourage everyone to ward or check for wards in your jungle. Buy a Homeguard for your boots. Keep your head up and ping the enemy champ you need dead the fastest. Don't E your way so far up field that your team can't get to you once your ult fades.