Updated the guide a bit, worked on the looks of it and expanded/redone some sections of it!

This guide is focused on AD/hybrid Poppy but contains builds for jungle and the standard tank Poppy. I might expand the guide with support build but to be honest I don't like the idea of Poppy support. There are way better supports out there to chose from. As you can see this guide is heavily under construction.

---

Some things about me:
I have quite lot of nicknames. My favorite is Suspec M (youtube channel name mostly), I'm Papucsláma on Lol and Butyi on Steam. I play League of Legends since season 4 but only sarted to really like it since season 6 with the reworked Poppy. Before her my favorite champions were Tristana and Kog'maw (ap) but I mostly played when my friends called me. Since I tried out Poppy, I'm in love with the character (which would sound awkward if I'd say it in real life, lol), her gameplay, mechanics, attitude, everything is just perfect. She was my first champion I could dominate Riven mains with, defeat Illaoi in lane and be an awesome jungler (after Warwick of course).

Pros High damage early gane Huge damage potential mid-late game Not widely known champion Most of the times looked down upon Her passive can provide a lot of shield and trade potential Flexibility (can be top tanky, hybrid, assasin or jungle tank and hybrid) Keeper's Verdict

Cons Hard to master Easy to outplay if known well by the enemy Easy to deny her passive if played right Armor penetration is very effective against not tanky Poppy builds Some of her biggest counters are frequently played characters (Renekton for example)

As versatile Poppy in roles, as versatile her rune pages can be. For example, tank focused builds needs defense runes, while hybrid builds require attack speed and hybrid builds are mostly up to preference (personally I take ad runes).

Poppy's skills are all very versatile just like the champion itself, so here's a breakdown of them:

Iron Ambassador:
You get a ranged attack that deal extra damage based on your max health.
Can be used to poke the enemy laner or to farm while getting shield in exchange. Usually, since it's cooldown isn't high, you can initiate or extend your combo damage early on, and at the end of a teamfight you can use it again, so feel free to spam it whenever possible. Also helps a lot in clearing the jungle camps. It can make difference between dieing shamefully to jungle monsters or gloriously getting away with that rapor buff. And the best of all, it counts as melee attack.
Hammer shock:
Deal damage in a short aoe in front of you, damaging and slowing enemy units while creating an explosion after a few seconds later.
Your main and most versatile skill. You can clear waves/camps with it, deal a lot of damage compared to it's cooldown, or you can slow down your chasers just enough to just get away.
Steadfast Presence:
Gain speed boost and disable all enemy dashes within an area around you. Gives armor and magic resistance passively, they are doubled when you have below half hp.
This skill makes you counter champions like Jax or Rengar because it not only stops most enemy dashes but deals damage to them, and against someone doesn't really know Poppy, this skill can a be really effective tool.
Heroic Charge:
Swiftly charge towards an enemy target, moving them with you and stunning them if knocked to a wall.
Whenever possible try and position yourself to knock your target to the wall because it not only stuns them but deals extra damage too which can be handy for most of the situations. Basically this skill makes assasin Poppy deadly, tank Poppy a good initiator or a roamer/jungler Poppy a very good ganker, just watch out not to push an enemy champion out of your teammates skills, or help them escape by accident.
Keeper's Verdict
Hit enemies in front of Poppy, knocking them and making them untargetable, or charge up to make the targets fly towards their spawn.
Adittional notes: if you charge Keeper's Verdict but you get disabled (by a stun for example) you get reduced cooldown (like 30 seconds or so). My favorite skill in the entire kit and game as well. Good for extending your attacks, disable key targets for a short time or make a cool escape by sending the enemy team back to their spawn (or towards their spawn). Additionally you can try and send them into your team's trap but because it needs so much coordination with your team I never did it myself, but sounds cool on paper ;)
By default your combo should be first Heroic Charge someone into a wall, stunning them, then using Steadfast Presence to protect your team and/or yourself from possible dashes, dealing damage and slowing down your target(s) with Hammer Shock and then auto attacking until any of your skills comes off of cooldown and by that activating Iron Ambassador. If you need to, you can finish off or disable key targets with Keeper's Verdict.

This item provides you just enough health and mana to be able to stay on lane for longer periods of time even if the enemy is agressive

---

I was thinking about which hydra would benefit an AD Poppy the best but for me Titanic Hydra is not appealing enough so Ravenous Hydra is my choice. It gives life steal, damage, aoe and it's active is a nice extension of Poppy's combo. It makes easier to clear camps in the jungle and helps not dieing to neutrals.

---

This is a must for top bruisers. It not only gives you damage and hp but armor pen too, which can come very handy when fighting chubby enemies.

---

No, I'm serious. It not only gives lot of extra damage but plus lifesteal which increases your effective tankyness in teamfights...well, in general actually, and since you aren't building for tank you gonna need it.

---

Attack damage, cooldown reduction, armor pen, attack and movement speed...it extends your stats very well and is a great escape tool too.

---

I'm not that experienced with this item yet because whenever I could buy this, the match was already over. It's another item to extend your stats with the addition of it's passive:12% of every damage taken will be turned to bleed damage, increasing your effective tankyness, again, and giving you enough time to lifesteal some hp to just survive and also reduces the effectiveness of enemy bursts...not much but it does.

---

Pure tankyness for situations when that damn enemy Veigar went berserk and has 400 ap at 20 minutes.

---

Armor and extra damage, not even mentioning it's passive.

---

Damage and more effective hp in teamfights.

---

While Titanic Hydra is not appealing enough for AD Poppy, it is perfect for a tanky or standard Poppy build. It gives damage, hp and hp regen and extra damage based on your maximum hp.

---

Armor, health and a great passive for an initiator like you. Make sure to get that stack to 100 before initiating and to use those stacks before you get debuffed since most of them removes the stacks, and movement slow makes it slowly decay.

---

Magic resistance when you feel like you need more damage and armor penetration.

---

I choose this over cinderhulk because that 60 damage is soooo good for 2.6k gold and with the additional effects, you'll have easier time ganking lanes.

There are some champions more tricky to deal with as Poppy, so here I'll go more in depth in dealing with certain champions on lane or jungle.The first thing you wanna know is how good the player is playing, how comfortable they are with their champion and how familiar are they with Poppy. After this follow the instructions below.


Champion: Darius
Recommended build against them: tank
Basic situation: Darius can easily beat a lot of "famous" top champions and Poppy is no exception from this. He is too tanky to kill by one combo and most trades with him can turn into you dieing thanks to his Hemorrhage and Noxian Guillotine.

Dealing with them: If they aren't comfortable with Darius then you can just play around his skills. You can tell this by their skill usage, like not knowing exactly how long Apprehend's hook range is and because of that missing it a lot of times or when he stacked 5 Hemorrhage's on you, he won't attack you straight away (in this case your only option is to run btw). You can outplay him with Hammer Shock by using it when you think he is going for a harass on you so he'll get damage and slowed resulting in a failed attempt to get you out of the lane - for now - and space to land Iron Ambassador on him.
It's strange I didn't mention Iron Ambassador earlier since it's one of the key abilities for winning the lane against Darius. Whenever you can, you gotta hit him with it. Not only it can help you learn his experience (if he is not, at least attempting to step on your shield he might not know Poppy well enough) but deal some serious damage and optionally make him use their potions too.
After getting their hp to around half and they have no potions left to use you might wanna start planning to catch him off guard. One trick I like to use is to go into the bushes. The enemy Darius will most likely take it as a challenge to get into the bush and kill you. Try and position yourself to the edge of the bush closer to the lane (so not at the wall) and when he enters the bush, Heroic Charge them to the wall, Hammer Shock and start hitting them as hard as possible. If he tries to escape you can use Steadfast Presence to catch up to them. Another way to catch them is when they are next to a wall and kill them with the same combo.
If you find them too difficult to deal with alone, try and coordinate with your jungler for a successful gank, a few kills should give you enough advantage to be able to solo him on the lane.Where you should stand in the bush.Two great places to catch the enemy off guard.

The map below shows my jungle route.
First you get rid of Mr.Gromp, then you go and kill the Wolf family. Next stop is at Red Buff, and then Raptors. After these camps you should be level 3 and ready for ganking.
After you are level 3, you are probably low, so recall and check the lanes if any of them needs gank. Look for lanes struggling to defend their tower against the enemy and after a successful gank don't forget to look out for that lane while clearing the jungle. They might have gotten just enough farm and exp to stay on their lane or they might still be struggling to stay on lane. If they are fine you can go on for now, else you might wanna plan for another gank and to even babysit that lane.

The jungle build's core items focus on damage and armor pen because in the early game you need that damage for successful ganks but in the mid-late game you should be in more like a tank initiator role than an assasin one. Your kit can make you a great initiator with Heroic Charge in your hands.

To-do list

• Expanded "runes"
• Expand "jungling"
• Rework "Items'n such" (definitely rename it)
• Expand "In depth vs. champion explanations"
• Improve visuals of the guide
  
  I could write a lot about how to play with Poppy but mostly these are my experiences, everything else only sounds right on paper. I'll keep expanding my guide depending on feedback and more experiences in-game.
  Check out my youtube channel if you have some spare time (there are no lol videos yet at the time of making this guide but I have plans for them). I have a twittertoo (if you care) where I normally post daily about my thoughts and stuff.