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Poppy Build Guide by

[11.23] Basic Poppy Guide (Top/Jungle/Support)

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Poppy Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (8) More Poppy Guides

Choose Champion Build:

TOP
JUNGLE
SUPPORT

Runes: Inspiration Secondary

1 2 3

Resolve

Grasp of the Undying

Shield Bash

Bone Plating

Revitalize

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Time Warp Tonic

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2

Teleport

Flash

Teleport

Items

Starting Options

Standard Start

Alternate Start

Main Build

Mythic Options

Boot Options

Core Items

Final Item Choices

Armor Options

MR Options

Full Build Examples

Example #1: Standard

Example #2: Aggressive

Extra Gold

Ability Order Q>E>W (Standard)

1 2

Poppy Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Darius

Extreme

Veigar

Ideal

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Veigar

Ideal

OVERVIEW

TOP

✦ TOP
Poppy Top is an exceptionally effective counterpick against most champions that rely on a dash as a core part of their kit or to engage. She is able to completely nullify many champions with her and she is so tanky, most champions will have difficulty putting a dent into her. A very safe pick in lane.

JUNGLE

✦
Poppy Jungle focuses on ganking overextended lanes, easily able to cut off escape paths and prevent champions who are usually able to retreat to tower such as from getting away without wasting a . Her ganks aren't amazing, but she has an effective speed boost in her kit as well.

SUPPORT

✦
Support Poppy focuses on helping her ADC get kills by punishing bad positioning and overextended enemies extremely hard. She is also exceptionally effective on many engage supports such as who will be unable to do anything relevant in lane with your presence.

Overview: Pros/Cons

PROS

+ Extremely Tanky
+ Percent Health Damage
+ Flexible Ultimate
+ Anti-Dash
+ 2-Second Stun
+ Fast

Poppy is a very flexible champion able to be played top, jungle, and support. She's not particularly popular meaning it is unlikely someone else will take her from you nor will she be banned. She is extremely effective against certain champions and is also useful from behind. She has CC, utility, and surprisingly good damage. Her Ult is also very flexible, able to be used as a simple AOE knock up (90% of the time) or to eject a dangerous target from a fight.

CONS

- Not As Useful vs. Immobile Teams
- Easy to Mess Up
- Bad against Good Positioning
- Shut Down by Lots of CC
- Usually Reliant on Teammates for Damage/Kills

Poppy's niche is her anti-dashing W. When not fighting teams that have dashes, Poppy essentially becomes any sort of tanky engager kind of like , but more difficult to use. It's also really easy to screw up your (through helping an enemy get away if you fail to pin them or they change their positioning just slightly) and potentially your (it takes a split second decision as to whether use it as a knock up or to ult an important target away). She is fairly easy otherwise.

Overview: Summoners

	Flash: Bring this. You can potentially pull off some clutch flash-pins and various other things. Bring. This.
	Teleport: The Toplane Teleport is pretty standard. Teleport is flexible in the sense that you can use it to TP back to lane, or, even better, to make a play somewhere else on the map. TPing to punish an overextending lane or to help with an objective is crucial.
	Smite: If you're playing jungle, you will need this. Otherwise, you're basically not playing jungle.
	Ignite: Makes the only Heroic Charge engage you get in lane to be the only one you need. Exhaust is also okay and Heal can be used if your ADC wants to bring something else.

RUNES

In general, Poppy's Keystone choices want to focus on 1. Making her fast enough to roam the map and position for a pin and 2. Making her tanky enough to survive her engages and act as a very tough roadblock for her enemies.

Runes: Top (Somewhat Outdated)

RESOLVE

We take the tree because there are many runes that enchance Poppy's survivability.
is ideal for Top in order to aid in her trades, improve her sustain, and help her scale just a little bit more. Easy for you to trigger and procs off of meaning you can essentially get a free proc whenever you have up, increasing your max health, healing you, and doing additional damage. Poppy usually does not benefit from extended trades making not as good but still usable. Grasp, overall is better and fits into Poppy's potential to poke and take short, bursty trades.

has perfect synergy with your passive , increasing your tankiness and damage even further. This adds to your trades in noticeable ways. is a fair rune as well if you wish to destroy towers whereas usually has reduced benefits as a solo-laner.

A choice between or . Poppy already has additional armor/MR making provide even more on top of that though is much more useful for opponents who will likely burst you.

is ideal for late game in order to add to your bulkiness. is also a good choice for whereas the additional healing/shielding with doesn't end up being much over the course of a game though it is still a viable option.

is a strong choice for top lane sustain and pairs nicely with , allowing you to stay in lane for longer.
is a must bring with as it provides a noticeable burst in healing and movement speed, helping your early game trades.

Poppy is pretty free in terms of what shards she can bring. In general, AS and AF are the best choices in the first two rows due to being the most noticeable increase in damage. The last shard should be based off of what defensive stat you need for your lane opponent.

Runes: Jungle (Somewhat Outdated)

DOMINATION

We take the tree because it gives the best options for Poppy to dish out the most damage as fast as possible. The burst this tree provides is ideal for Poppy's ganks in order to obtain kills and additional damage.
is the ideal keystone here as it is super easy to trigger with as the initial hit and the pin count as two abilities, meaning only a single auto or use of your will trigger it. Ideal for bursting down a CCed target during a gank with the help of your laner and is the most applicable as a jungler. can work to help your scaling since, with each successful gank, it makes your burst stronger and stronger. is best if you cannot find a pin.

triggers extra true damage on attacks after you CC a target which is perfect for Poppy's full combo or after any enemy he pins or after application of his . The damage it adds is easily >1000 over the course of a game. is okay for sustain, but the healing overall is pretty pathetic for a jungler and doesn't really need the lethality from sudden impact.

There are many different viable choices here, and what I mean is every option except . and both provide just as much AF as but have some additional and useful utility to them. If you plan on swapping your trinket to early on, then it's better if you use over .

Most runes here are ok, but is easily best. In order to reach fights, escape enemies chasing you, rotate from one side of the map to another, have more effective ganks, is easily the best. You won't be able to do anything if you don't have the movement speed to get anywhere.

is ideal for Jungle Poppy's combo involving smite as it is easy to trigger and helps position for a pin.
is additional movement that stacks with a lot you have, including , boots, other movements items you may purchase, , etc. is a strong alternate choice however.

Poppy is pretty free in terms of what shards she can bring. In general, AS and AF are the best choices in the first two rows due to being the most noticeable increase in damage and improving your clear time. Armor for your last shard is pretty important to tank jungle camps.

Runes: Support (Somewhat Outdated)

RESOLVE

We take the tree because there are many runes that enchance Poppy's survivability.
is, in most cases, the best rune for support simply due to the extra resistances being incredibly important when there are two potential people who can be shooting at you (even if one of them is currently stunned) and scaling well off of Poppy's additional defensive stats. Pretty standard for tanky engage supports. If you choose into a double ranged matchup, however, then may be better as it becomes substantially more difficult for you to find an engage while still being healthy against too much poke. In general, however, these matchups are terrible for and she should not be chosen for them.

is a great rune for supports as it enables your CC to heal your allies. Makes your all-ins with your ADC healthier and safer, making you more likely to win the 2v2.

Most of the runes in this column are totally viable. Usually is best against ranged matchups with lots of poke, such as a or a as you can't engage if you are nearly dead. Against melee supports, will likely be the better choice.

Considering how many supports have a ton of CC, is great due to providing you additional in order to brute force your way to the enemy though may be good, especially if you have or . Overgrowth is also okay to add to your bulkiness.

triggers extra true damage on attacks after you CC a target which is perfect for Poppy's full combo or after any enemy he pins or after application of his . Makes her all-ins that much better.
is an amazing rune for supports, especially those who like to roam and really need movement speed. In order to reach fights, escape enemies chasing you, rotate from one side of the map to another, have more effective roams and all-ins, is easily the best. You won't be able to do anything if you don't have the movement speed to get anywhere.

ABILITIES

PASSIVE
ABILITY

Iron Ambassador (Passive): Periodically makes your next auto atack ranged, deal additional magic damage, and throw out a buckler which falls onto the floor. She can pick up the buckler to gain a shield based off of her max health or she will automatically obtain the shield if her buckler kills her target but if your enemy steps on it, the buckler is destroyed. Focusing on picking up your shield during most trades will separate the good from the bad Poppys though sometimes the buckler will fall in a bad location. That being said, the Buckler has a tendency to drop near walls which may allow you to bait some bad positioning for a pin if an enemy tries to walk over your buckler. Focus on trading only when is available.

Hammer Shock (Q): Poppy smashes a small area in front of her with her hammer, dealing additional damage based off the enemy' max health and slowing anyone in the area. It then detonates again, dealing the same damage. Can potentially do at the minimum 16% of the target's max health each use. Allows Poppy to do lots of damage while remaining tanky.

Steadfast Presence (W): Passively grants Poppy additional armor and magic resist. When activated, Poppy gains a burst of movement speed, also creating a large barrier around her. Any champion who attempts to dash within the area are knocked down, grounded, slowed, and dealt magic damage. This is what makes Poppy special. Completely nullifies most dashes and is fairly easy to time. Most dashes are very telegraphed.

Heroic Charge (E): Poppy charges at a target champion, minion, or monster, carrying them along. If, at any point during the charge, the target makes contact with terrain, they will be pinned, stunned, and dealt additional damage. Somewhat difficult to use if the enemy positions well but, if you pull it off, usually results in a ton of damage done. You can also use it to travel over walls by targeting enemies or monsters through walls.
Only use in one of the following scenarios:

You can pin an enemy to the wall.
You can kill whoever you carry along without the stun.
You are pushing a target towards your team who can kill him.
You are trying to push a target away from a teammate to save them.

Keeper's Verdict (R): Poppy channels, charging up her hammer for a few seconds. Once released, Poppy emits a shockwave in a direction, launching enemies hit by the shockwave back a MASSIVE DISTANCE towards their base. If Poppy instead presses and releases the charge instantly, she knocks up enemies around her for 0.75 seconds. In most situations, you will be using her ult for the AOE knock up rather than sending them back to spawn. Exceptional for saving a teammate or disengaging however.

Abilities: Making a Verdict

When should you utilize as a Knock Up vs. an Eject?

Knock Up Enemy

Eject Enemy

To extend your Heroic Charge combo on a single enemy
To save a very low-health teammate IMMEDIATELY if your other abilities are on cooldown
To CC a target long enough for you to position for a pin
To knock up everyone around you when you are among the entire enemy team in a teamfight
To immediately interrupt enemy channels

To disengage from a fight
To set-up for a tower dive
To save a low-health teammate from a target(s) you both cannot fight (too strong or you're both too low)
Right at the start of a skirmish or teamfight to eject one or more key enemy targets who would otherwise carry the fight (disruptive tanks)
To eject nearby enemies (e.g. a jungler) when an objective (e.g. baron or dragon ) is low to ensure they cannot steal it

In general, you want to eject enemies who you believe you cannot kill or deal with, such as a super fed in the middle of a teamfight to kill his weaker allies first. In 95% of cases, however, your basic knock up is much more effective as, rarely, will there be an enemy you cannot kill considering your tankiness and CC with the help of your teammates. That being said, this ability can very easily save your or your teammate's lives.

TIPS

Top

Tips

Jungle

Tips

Support

Tips

COMBOS

I'LL EVENTUALLY UPLOAD VIDEOS SO THIS ISN'T SO PAINFUL TO READ

Legend

- Basic Attack
- Player Moves/Repositions
- Enchanced Basic Attack (Iron Ambassador)
- Pick Up Iron Ambassador Buckler
- Her Q (Hammer Shock)
- Her W (Steadfast Presence)
- Steadfast Presence for Speed Boost
- Her E (Heroic Charge)
- Her E's Pin (Heroic Charge into Terrain)
- Her UNCHARGED R (Keeper's Verdict Knockup)
- Chilling Smite (The Summoner Spell)
- Nimbus Cloak (The Rune)
- Nimbus Cloak for Speed Boost

Combos: General

I'LL EVENTUALLY UPLOAD VIDEOS SO THIS ISN'T SO PAINFUL TO READ

Standard Burst Combo

-> -> -> -> -> ->

Pre-6 Trading Combo (Enemy Lacks a Dash)

-> -> -> -> -> ->

Pre-6 Trading Combo (Enemy Has a Dash)

-> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Post-6 Trading Combo (Enemy Lacks a Dash)

-> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Post-6 Trading Combo (Enemy Has a Dash)

-> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Enemy Is Not Positioned Well for a Pin

-> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Enemy Is Low/Killable and Retreating

-> -> -> -> ->

Enemy with a Dash Attempts to Engage upon You

-> -> -> -> -> ->

Combos: Jungle

Standard Burst Combo w/. Smite

-> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

CONCLUSION

Poppy is fun and easy. Good luck.

tl;dr: Don't die.

Thanks to @JHOIJHOI's exceptional guide on making guides which can be found here: Making A Guide