I build Poppy as an AP carry champion with early and late game support. I used to play Poppy with flat AP rather than a more tanky and support based build and this works far better, allowing for more consistent gameplay.

In this build I will talk about the various ways to play Poppy, defend and support your team and easily knock off enemy AD carries and AP carries. With this build the possibility of even using her in a ranked game is there, usually she fails to fit into a team at all.

For 450ip (which in my mind they should not have decreased her to) she is a viable and strong character for everyone's list whether they are new to the game or have been playing for hundreds of hours.

This section is entirely devoted to people who seek to hate something about the build. I will cover a lot of common issues with Poppy in comparison to the standard build.

Hate #1: Don't max Poppy's ultimate as soon as you can, just get one point in it early then finish it last.

Response #1: This can be true! But what happens when you only have one point in it, and your target in which you have already ulted on has CC? I DO NOT get the points purely because of the damage buff.

Hate #2: You said Poppy is powerful early game but some other builds say she is not!

Response #2: With this tree set and rune set, she IS powerful early game allowing for a quick stun and first blood for either you or your laning partner.

Hate #3: OMG! Why are you maxing Heroic and Devastating at the same time!

Response #3: There are two prime reasons for this; number one being that your devastating scales with your opponents health and you will not hit the amount of bonus damage allowed early game. Number 2 is the fact that a lot of your damage comes from heroic on an AP poppy. If you hit them against a wall but THEN you get stunned before you can continue the combo the heroic will still do a fair amount of damage.

Hate #4: Why did you even bother to put a point into paragon if you are an AP carry (at lvl4)?

Response #4: Due to the lack of boots early game this will act as them. The bonus armor and damage is just purely a bonus.

Poppy has a fairly balanced amount of Pros and Cons. Due to this the manner and style in which you play her is crucial in order to knead out the bad things of this hero.

PROS
- Extremely good at focusing a squishy AD carry / AP carry without taking any damage.
- One of the best in game tower divers.
- Very good at ganking, if played correctly.
- Versatile, and no longer squishy in comparison to most other builds.
- Powerful even if not fed, even early game.

CONS
- Bad choice for solo top.
- Struggles to escape without flash or a minion wave against numerous enemies.
- AP Poppy is an incredibly bad farmer, having the blue buff is the only way you'll be able to farm without losing mana quickly or taking a large amount of time.

Follow the sequence strongly and you will find that your damage output will be high.

The skill sequence is as follows:
Heroic Charge -> Devastating Blow -> Heroic Charge -> Paragon of Demacia -> Devastating Blow -> Diplomatic Immunity -> Heroic Charge -> Devastating Blow -> Heroic Charge -> Devastating Blow -> Diplomatic Immunity -> Devastating Blow -> Heroic Charge -> Paragon of Demacia -> Paragon of Demacia -> Diplomatic Immunity -> Paragon of Demacia -> Paragon of Demacia

Heroic Charge is ALWAYS first, it will be the main thing you use during early game fights and pushes. This can also be used as an escape tool in order to run away from near approaching enemies if you have enemy minions behind you.

In case you have been living under a rock, the main combo with Poppy is to activate Devastating Blow then dash towards and enemy who is in FRONT of a wall with Heroic Charge. This allows for a stun, massive damage and a team mate to continue the rain of damage onto your target.

Paragon of Demacia - This will act as your boots early game, NEVER use this to farm you will clock it up yourself rather than waste the mana and the cooldown. If you get ganked early game and you activated to make your farming a split second faster you have lost your only method of escaping other than flash and a well timed heroic charge. This is why I get one point in it early game then leave it to late game.

Valiant Fighter is Poppy's passive. It is an extremely useful passive as it helps sustain you during team fights and can stop the killing blow on you extremely easy. The fact that you are tanky reduces the damage all ready already let alone without this strong passive.

Diplomatic Immunity is Poppy's ultimate. The extra %30 damage is great for a quick tower dive on a low health enemy with out taking the first half of the turret hits. It is good to target a low damage dealer, such as a tank, during a team fight then target the opponents squichies. This makes for a great initiator and a loss of an enemy carry straight away.
PLEASE NOTE: After killing your target/the target dying you will NOT be immune to damage for the rest of the ult, it will disappear and leave you vulnerable.

When you have blue buff, the most viable way to farm is to use your low cooldown Devastating Blow to kill all of the minions, as you will regenerate your mana quickly thanks to the relatively low cost and high damage output.

Primary summoner spells:

&

Secondary



Could work, but preferable that you do not use:



If you want to go full support:




DO NOT USE:



POPPY JUNGLE DOES NOT EXIST!

I use flash due to the low escape chance of Poppy in a dangerous situation, I then use ignite to pick up kills on enemies who have survived my tower dive as a sure fire way to finish them off. If you have to remove one of those spells in order for ghost or etc, I would suggest removing ignite as it is not a need for Poppy.

Starting of with a Doran's ring allows you to get early damage output, health and lane consistency. It is the best starting item for AP Poppy.

philosopher's stone

philosopher's stone is a perfect early game item for Poppy. It is cheap, allows for a regular harass with Heroic Charge and the Gp5 is a great for Poppy's who play lightly without much contact.



Sheen is your lively hood during the entire game. It will boost your damage up by a huge amount whilst also giving you AP to scale your Heroic Charge on. The mana it gives you is also a bonus as your consumption can be a little bit high during mid and early game. It is a perfect item to counter the defensive philosopher's stone with some brutal damage.



Mobility Boots this item is great for getting in team fights quickly, and hunting down the hunter (as you will find out later in this guide). If you are using ghost the movement speed you gain in order to escape (giving you enough time for these babies to activate) or chase is truly awesome. No one will escape.



Shurelya's Battlesong is an excellent item. Giving Poppy the boost when needed but also making her that little bit more tanky. I finish this after Sheen to get the most out of the Gp5 from philosopher's stone. You will find yourself popping this a lot with your Paragon of Demacia for a lot of run speed. This is why Ghost isn't used due the pure overkill nature of an already high run speed capability.


Lich Bane this becomes your most loved item in the game, it gives you much needed magic resistance, movement speed and of course its passive which makes your little hammer smash the vampire hunters face in Vayne. I always finish this after boots and the reverie due to its high cost.



Rod of Ages but, why? This will make you more tanky, stronger and will make your fights be able to go on for a VERY long time. I prefer this before the Rabadon's Deathcap due to the varied states and the already large damage you commit with every swing of your hammer. RoA is one of my favourite items in game due to the long survivability of the user and mixed in with Shurelya's Battlesong is a perfect combo.


Rabadon's Deathcap - "Hi, I scale with everything and do mass damage."



Will of the Ancients this item is a perfect support item for you. There have to be team mates who have something that scales with AP, the fact that you get 80 yourself and 30 to all your team mates is extremely useful for its price. The spellvamp isn't so much of a need but more like a bonus on this item. This will make your team mates want to hang around you.

RUNES

Flat AP quints allow for early game damage output due to this they are a prime choice for Poppy.

Magic Resist glyphs are the best things I have even bought. So much tankyness straight away allows for a well controlled lane even against strong harassers.

Penetration marks: These MUST be in the build, along with the masteries. It allows us to rather use the runes than build an item with penetration. Tanky heroes can only be killed with these pen runes so it is important that you use these runes.

Flat armor seals: See magic resist glyphs, the same reason applies.


Masteries

Ahh, masteries, making the world go round.

9 0 21

I go as far as I need in offence, getting the basic AP and spell penetration.
Utility is the most important, I straight away go for more mana, then work my way up to extra gold and even more CDR totalling to %10. This allows me to become more consistent in lane and out of lane.

Poppy is a character that should generally go bot with another person in the current meta game. She can act as the support OR the carry. Laning with a support is truly amazing with Poppy. Her partner needs to have ranged harasses, characters like Vayne or Sona make very good laning partners.

There is a reason to all your run speed, you need to gain advantage on your opponents in lane. Get behind them and if you can't knock them into a wall knock them into your team mate or out of the turret range. You are an extremely good anti-jungler and can rule the roost of the jungle very well, by gaining ground the using the large walls around you towards your advantage. Numerous times I have chased down the hunter of one of our team mates - who near death managed to survive and duke the enemy thanks to Poppy's versatility in the jungle and incredible run speed. You become the security guard of your team and your job is to save lives. Do it well.

On top of all this you are a good initiator thanks to your ult, everyone targets you if you dive first with it but no one cant hit you (common noob mistake by the enemy team) then your team proceeds to run in and finish the rest of the team because you targeted the tank with your ult and just took down the fed AD carry on the enemy team.

Poppy can be played by anyone of any skill level. Once you get good at Poppy she becomes a very enjoyable and underestimated character to play as. I have been called overpowered numerous times yet I never see other Poppy's, the reason? Many other Poppy's are silly and dumb, do not know how to dive right and pop your ult on the wrong person.

I hope this build has inspired you to play Poppy or become a better Poppy, there is a lacking of them on PVP.net

So comment, rate up and rate down if you feel the need, but replies are everything. PLEASE try this out before you do though - it'll work much better than you think.

One day, just one day, I wish to see an enemy Poppy in a ranked game.

- Blazed Froob