Hey I'm Relise (also known by my ign Wrath OP.GG). I am a Challenger Poppy/Shen/Riven top player. I have been maining Poppy since 2023 where she helped me get Grandmaster and just hit Challenger playing mainly Poppy and Shen.

I Peaked Rank 1 Poppy World on League of Graphs and highest LP Poppy NA (7/25/2025).
I also upload some gameplay vods on my youtube channel so check that out if you're interested
Youtube/@Relise_lol

Role Quests

Each lane has unique role quests that can be completed by killing minions, champions, tower plates, towers and epic objectives. The points gained for your quest are doubled when in your assigned lane. This means that you want to stay in your lane until the quest is completed around 12-15min.

Once the quest is completed Top laners gain flat xp, bonus xp from all sources, an increased level cap to 20 and teleport but if you already have teleport it becomes upgraded: giving a large max health shield

Items

The new tank item Protoplasm Harness is a lifeline item like Sterak's Gage but that heals you when below 30% hp scaling with your bonus resists.
This item pairs perfectly with Poppy's W passive Steadfast Presence combined with Conditioning and Jak'Sho, The Protean making it heal over 1200 health at 3 items.

Sundered Sky has been nerfed having a lower crit and a 4 second longer cd per target. I won't be building this item anymore with the cd nerf and top being more split pushed focused giving it less value. I have the same thoughts with Tear of the Goddess and Fimbulwinter getting less value in sidelane and the mana being overkill when not having long teamfights.

Sundered + Fimbul is still viable but I will be sticking to bami items to give me more resists to amp Protoplasm Harness and give me the waveclear needed to keep side lane pressured.

Runes

The only meaningful rune change for Poppy is Demolish which is changed to a 3 hit passive. It seems better overall but less abusable when using your passive to proc it from range.

Other Split Push Buffs

- Atakhan/Feats Removed
- Epic Monsters 15% more durable
- New Vision locations called Faelights that grant large vision cones
- Lower yellow trinket cooldown
- Plates on all towers
- New tower breaking mechanic Crystalline Overgrowth (like a demolish if you haven't hit the tower building up over time)
- Improvements to Homeguards that extend to furthest pushed minion in each lane
- Minions spawning every 25 seconds instead of 30 (with one less melee minion)then in the late game they spawn every 20 seconds with one less caster minion as well

What this means for Poppy Top

This is overall a big nerf for Poppy top since she really loves to group and can struggle in side lanes but if we adapt our playstyle to be more selfish and focus on shutting down the enemy laner she can still be viable. The extra xp is very nice and the teleport upgrade will help make teleporting to fights easier instead of showing up first.

Another thing to think about is most bruisers will be running a combat spell which can hurt Poppy's lane meaning we will have to play even safer early until we scale up. Poppy herself can run ignite in some matchups where the enemy has healing now but won't be as consistent as tp of course.

The goal now will be playing to scale and get as much gold and xp possible. Once at 3 items with protoplasm teleporting to fights with be a huge threat where you are essentially unkillable. Just make sure you are always defending the never ending split push from enemy top lane.

Poppy is decently strong early game with her Q Hammer Shock and passive Iron Ambassador combined with Grasp of the Undying. Most people will underestimate her and not keep track of her passive Iron Ambassador coming up.

Her basic trade pattern is to poke at max Q Hammer Shock range which procs Scorch keeping your Grasp of the Undying active then throw passive at them.

You want to keep in minion aggro or auto minions before passive comes off CD so you have Grasp of the Undying ready as soon as it's ready. If you need to stall more time use Q Hammer Shock on the wave to extend grasp.

I like to back when I can get a full resist item like Chain Vest or Spectre's Cowl but try to make sure you try to get enough to get Ruby Crystal + Cloth Armor/ Null-Magic Mantle OR Tunneler (when going Sundered Sky) then get Boots.

At level 5 your Q Hammer Shock + 1 auto will kill caster minions so you don't need to rush bami till a bit later.
Once you get bami(if you are going tank) you can use it to keep grasp up in minions to make your passive poke more punishing. With sundered build you have to spend more time autoing minions to keep grasp up but you have more threat without grasp with the extra ad.

Only all in with E Heroic Charge when they are low or miss step by a wall as it takes A LOT of mana and you have very little early on.
In some matchups you need to save E Heroic Charge to use on a minion to escape certain spell such as Olaf Undertow.

Focus on poking max range and only taking short trades early while continuing to farm up. Poppy is much weaker early now than she used to be but evens out at level 5 and still spikes hard mid game once Q Hammer Shock is maxed at level 9.

As poppy you want to look to start fights with your jungler. Make sure to contest grubs or red/blue buff.
Poppy is extremely strong at disrupting and is very annoying to deal with as the enemy.

With the new season you want to stay top until your quest is completed then match the enemy top whichever side he goes. You still want to play for objectives but it's better to stay side lane as long as possible to make use of top's bonus xp from the quest. So TP Teleport to fights when they are about to or have started making use of buffed TP with the huge shield.

Late game on Poppy is all about grouping and finding picks. Any stun into a wall with E Heroic Charge and you can lock them up with R Keeper's Verdict + W Steadfast Presence then slow them with Q Hammer Shock and team will be able to follow up.

In teamfights you want to front to back and peel your carry. Stay beside them until the enemies use all their engage.

*Sometimes you can engage if you find a great flash E Heroic Charge stun on the enemy carry but it's rare, don't be looking to flank very often.

When using Poppy E Heroic Charge she will try to auto that target so make sure to click elsewhere while using E Heroic Charge as a gap closer to hit passive on another target.

You can use recall to cancel Poppy's R Keeper's Verdict charge up and reset the CD.

Use W Steadfast Presence into short charge R Keeper's Verdict to hide the initial animation of the R Keeper's Verdict charge up allowing you to get to knock back charge without them being able to react.

When you have a Sheen item make sure to Q Hammer Shock or W Steadfast Presence while your passive auto Iron Ambassador is in air so Sheen will proc. This is especially good with Iceborn Gauntlet to allow Poppy to slow enemies and have a bigger impact at range/when chasing.

Tank Poppy is very low econ and is good at 2 items anyways, 3rd is a luxury in a lot of games so make sure to give farm to your carries. On the other hand if you fall behind you will always be useful, keep good mental and group/play fights smart!

My latest gameplay vod: Play Video