Hi guys, I am Nonkinator and I play support only in League. Besides playing Braum, Bard and other regular supports, I really enjoy trying new champions as a support. The idea about Poppy was pretty simple: Her W must be pretty good to protect an ADC (in 2k17 LUL) from Rengar, Lee, Zac and their friends. So I tried it and it went pretty well :)

Poppy got some sick supporting skills:
- Her Passive can destroy the blue trinket, give you a shield, share a minion, do damage, etc.

- Her Q can do damage and slow the enemies, this is not THAT important, but still usefull.
- Her W can protect your ADC from all kinds of jumps and dashes (especially ganks), also speed.
- Her E can be used to knock the enemies into a wall or just push anyone away from your ADC.
- With her Ultimate, Poppy can interrupt, do damage or simply send people out of space. After the recent update this spell is even better because a quick chanelling will now help your team more often than saving the enemies.

- You will do tons of damage
- Poppy is very tanky
- Lots of CC over all
- Works with APCs as well, especially because you do AD.
- Fun to play
In the current meta is does not matter ehat you play botlane anyways :D

=> Good support

Things that will help Poppy:
- Own ADC got some CC (Jhin, Vayne, Ashe, Cait)
- Own ADC can do some burst (f.e. MF)
- Enemie Botlane got few CC (NOT Morgana)
- Enemies got jumps, dashes, etc. that can be blocked by your W (Rengar, Lee Sin, Zac, Lucian, etc. )
- Enemies got no escape spells or not much mobility
- Enemies like to stand close to walls :)
- You need a tank
- ...

Things that are bad for Poppy
- Opposite of things above
- Getting damage before Level 3
- Interruptions of her Ultimate
- ...


Poppy is a good allrounder and can be picked early (People will think you are the Top-Laner) but you alwys have to estimate the Pros and Cons in the current situation

As we come to runes, here is what I would currently recommend:


Major Runes:Poppy is a tank and so it should be pretty clear that Resolve should be your first choice here in most cases. I came across other Poppys with Aery and I get the idea but in my opinion it is just not as strong as the tank alternatives. I get the ides aof using "Summon Aery" as your keystone, but I personally think that it is just not that usefull. As a support you will have less money than the rest of your team so you can use the tank-stats very well and also you will probably be hard-engaging as Poppy more than poking. Aery would be my recommendation in certain matchup where you definetly now that you can't engage well because it allows you do do some more damage in this situation. Otherwise -> got tank (IMO)!


Choosing your keystone is way harder:

1. I would consider Grasp of the undying as the worst choice. It sounds good in theory but on botlane you will be playing against at least one ranged opponent who is going to win every auto-attack battle by just kiting you.


2. Aftershock is a good way of dealing more damage. You can trigger it pretty easily with your E-charge and if you knock anyone into a wall he/she will pe close to you long enough to actually get the damage. I recommend this if you want to be agressive in lane and whenever the enemies can't hurt your ADC very much in the early gamne(Mostly depends on enemy sup and your ADC). It its actual state I would consider it the best choice.


3. Guardian is best for defensive situations to just protect your ADC. It is kind of weakening your engages and forces you to stay close to your ADC but this is worth if you play against early-agressive lanes like zyra or her friends.


In the end it depends on your playstyle and the matchup so it is probably the best choice to choose the keystone before every game. I personally made the experience, that Glacial Augment can be fun aswell (if you get to autoattack anyone obviously).

In addition to that I recommend Boneplating, Conditioning and Overgrowth in the Resolve-tree.


Boneplating became the best option here for me because of its massive help for you in the early game. There will be a situation where you have to fall back after enganging on almost every lane. This is a good opportunity for the ADC to you and Boneplating helps alot in this situations. Font of Life is still strong aswell because of Poppys CC but does not heal that much in the early game.

Conditioning finally got some alternatives but is still the strongest for me. Being tanky is important and as a tank support with the massivly nerfed support items health you will be happy to have this. I can also understand people who use chrysalis but this is almost only an option when you are not hurt that much in fights and can allow yourself to get this little extra damage.

Overgrowth is making you tanky and has a symbiosis with Solari although this has been nerfed. All in all the other runes are just worse


Minor runes

I personally think Inspiration with Cosmic Insight and Biscuit delivery is a pretty good choice in minor runes because this will give you more sustain on lane and extra cooldown which are both pretty nice.

Since there are so many minor runes to pick, there are obviously other options. I personally like:
- Ghost Poro (improves warding)
- Ultimate Hunter (less ult-cooldown, especially usefull with Zekes)
- Gahtering Storm (lets you do damage in lategame)
- Celerity (for engages with Poppys W)
- Magical Footwear (easier and earlier W engages)
- Approach celocity (just in case ^^)

If you tried something else and had success and/or with it, please feel free to let me know.

I used to say, that there are two MUST-HAVES, but Riot deleted one, so there is just Targon's Brace left as a MUST-BUY:

Targon's Brace

A support without a support item is use- (or more precisely money-) less so you definetly have to start with one. The green item is the best for Poppy because sharing minions with your passive works so good (It is an easy way to get your shield and some money). The blue supporting item would be useless anyways and buying coin just ghives you pretty useless item after you completed the quest (Eye of Ascension is just weak on Poppy).

Since Riot deleted Ruby, there is only one way to continue building the support item.
______________________________________________________________________________________
I always recommend building Locket of the Iron Solari and Knight's Vow too. This items give you a shield to keep your team alive, damage reduction for your ADC and some good tank stats too. Building it early in the game will protect your whole team and especially you.

Everything else is up to you! (It should be kind of supporting or tanky)

Here are some of my favorites:
- Righteous Glory (Health, armor and better engage)
- Frozen Mallet (Health, damage and slow)
- Spirit Visage (Health and Magic Resistance, works very well with Redemption and Knight's Vow)
- Gargoyle Stoneplate (More tank, less damagage)
- ...

So, that's basically it :D
I don't want to tell you what to do exactly in every situation because you should try it out yourself and find out, what's the best for you. Try different things and see what works best for, just don't forget to slam some enemy ADCs into walls.

Thank you very much for your interest in my little Poppy-Support-Guide! If there is something in your mind, feel free to tell my in the discussion and please also feel free to rate this guide.

Good luck and have fun with Poppy support!

Edit: 200k! I am literally speechless. Thank you very much for your support. The Poppy update/buff recently arrived and I personally like it. I still got the feeling that Poppy is not very good in the current meta except maybe as a counter for assassin junglers. Do not get me wrong, I still think she is viable as a support but not just as strong as she was. Anyways, thank you very much and have fun playing Poppy support or anything else :D