This is no cookie-cutter Poppy build that's focused on smashing the faces of enemy carries. If you still hope to find that(even after the obvious build name), you're in the wrong place.

The idea of making Poppy tank again came from two places.
1. Browsing the LoL Wiki, and looking into her stats and skills.
2. Remembering that Poppy was released as a tank(I was not around the time myself, but I've heard this quite a lot)
3. Poppy is a great solo laner. Not the best, but she's good.
4. Wanting to do something different.

Since I've had Poppy for quite some time now, I've of course had the joy of going AP and destroying every squishy target in sight. What at first seemed as a fun way to troll people, started a spark that lead me to make this build guide.

I hope you read all of this, and recommendations and discussions about this build are heartfelt. Do not, however start flaming because "this is not standard". I will ignore such ignorant opinions and/or feeble attempts of trolling.

This is the section I require help with. I've really used only 1 set of runes, but I feel they work very well.
- Health Quints. These give Poppy some initial buff. Due to my skill order, she must rely on her vanilla stats and the extra HP gives her more laning presence. That extra 78 HP sure comes in handy, I must say. Wouldn't change these for anything else. Thanks to the new masteries, MS quints are pretty much obsolete, unless you're an assassin. Not in this case, though. And my items give me enough MS late game. This is the healthier option.

- Magic Resist/Level Glyphs. Standard tank runes. Not much more to say here.

- Armor Penetration Marks. These might seem odd but I've found that Poppy lacks that 1v1 damage output when soloing top lane. Additionally, you might say that most of her damage is Q&E, which are magic damage, but if you combo, and run away all the time, a smart enemy will know what to expect and soon you'll get pushed out of your lane. A mistake is to think you are a good bruiser thanks to these runes, however. Too long a battle, and you'll probably get destroyed by better early game champs, or champs with sustain abilities. (e.g. Irelia, WW, Cho)


I have yet to play with Magic Penetration Marks. Expect updates on this!

- Okay. Magic penetration is horrible on Poppy. Your early game laning and farming will suffer way too much and it doesn't give all that much late game power. Versus tanks and offtanks the low penetration is useless and even against carries the damage boost is pretty much pointless. It will in the early game, however, give you a decent damage output against good late game champions like Nasus. It can be a good choice to take these runes if your goal is to win by denying. Risky, but doable. Also, these runes make you more reliant on your abilities. Kinda sucks when all your DPS comes every 4-5 seconds..but the damage is good early, at least.
- Flat Mana Regen Seals. Mana is an issue for Poppy. Always, it seems so. These trusty seals have saved me many a occasion. I would be reluctant to see these changed, but I'm open to suggestions!

Masteries

After the mastery rework, I invested heavily into health and movement speed. Works pretty well but have to experiment some more. Mercenary is something I feel is really good for tanks and should not be changed.

Summoner Spells
Exhaust is a must-have for Poppy in my opinion. Chasing, dealing damage, getting away. The usual. Late game, I tend to use this on targets I'm NOT attacking. Helps the team kill enemy assassins, tanks etc. while I cause havoc in the enemy back lines.

I have taken Cleanse and it's mastery point because I find that hard CC is the death of Poppy. At least in tank form. You need to control the flow, not the other way around. Also helps to get away from ganks if you push too hard.


Alternatives:

Ghost. Sure it makes Poppy faster, but my items and her W skill already provide more than enough speed to catch even the fastest runners out there. Kassadin and Ez are problematic, but catching others(including Nid) hasn't proven difficult until now. Still, this is a good choice.

Flash. Wasted on Poppy, IMO, but there are a lot of people who go "wtf no flash?!" so I feel I must add this so ensure less QQ. It's not a bad choice, but Poppy is fine without it.

Fortify. I've taken this when I feel I'm going to get countered hard or if I go solo vs 2. It's either this or Teleport to not lose the tower fast.

Teleport. See Fortify.


[img=http://edge1.mobafire.com/images/summoner-spell/reveive.png
These spells either do not cut it or should be used by someone else in your team. I once went Heal+Ignite when during my first games of Poppy the Tank, but these just don't cut it past a certain point in time.

I start with Heroic Charge & Devastating Blow. This augments my high health laning presence with some considerable damage. After a couple of shots to the wall, even the most harrass-prone champions(like Talon or Jax) have calmed down.

Another reason why do this is that Heroic Charge offers you the element of shock. After a well-timed smash against the wall, your adversary will not willingly come between you and the wall again. Even to last hit those juicy caster minions. If they do, all you have to do in turn, is to punish them for it.

Furthermore, you won't be focusing on chasing down an enemy or getting away with low hp, because you want to play safe and farm as much as possible. The time for chasing and escaping will come. Early game, you only need to show teeth to your enemy at the lane every once in a while, and farm. Getting a point in Paragon of Demacia doesn't even dramatically enhance your ganking potential, because targets are usually low hp at that stage and a well timed stun with burst from your jungler/mid laner will usually guarantee the kill.

After her Ultimate, however, speed becomes of essence. After maxing Q, you should focus on maxing W. This will turn you into a fast race car tank that is feared by all enemies. The ability to initiate fast is scary. Just make sure your team can catch up. If they don't, not all is lost - you still have your ultimate.

This is a work in progress.

I have still a lot to write here, and a lot to experiment with.

Upcoming sections are:

Team work
Item explanation and order
Farming
Laning presence

December 12th, 2011
RifRaf