Hello Summoner. My name is ZenoKuthric. I am a summoner on the NA server and I am currently in the Gold Division. I main top lane, jungler, and support. I specialize in tanky characters. One of my favorite characters to play is Poppy and I will be introducing you to her in this guide which will serve to you as a stepping stone to help you into Gold Division and above.

This is still a work in progress, so there will be frequent updates, especially in regards to match-ups. As I progress through ranked games and solo queue normal games, I will have a better grasp on how opponents fare against Poppy and I will be including that data here.

Pros
-15% Max Health Passive Shield
-Powerful HP scaling Q, which bursts down
traditional tanky top laners.
-Stun if E strikes terrain, giving
free shots to teammates and useful to
secure kills.
-Ultimate can disengage unwanted opponents
from teamfights, guaranteeing victories.
-Can turn the scale of a teamfight.
-Cancels out pesky and annoying dashes.
-Ruins the days of those jumping your ADC
due to W's utility.

Cons
-E isn't a useful engage unless it's an
assured kill on contact.
-Will find that W is hard to time, require
good mastery and predicting skills to use W
effectively and how it is supposed to be used.
-Isn't the best against the current Guinsoo Meta
-No escape, but W usually prevents junglers from
killing you easily.

Reason 1- You carry the mightiest hammer of them all. Poppy is a fun character to play just to bash people's heads in; outplaying opponents with your E and Q combination gives a satisfying feeling as well. Most of all, the satisfaction you get from ruining an opponent's opportunity at winning a teamfight is something that cannot be replicated by any other Champion, on the basis that you screw with your opponent with your Ultimate. Each time you use it, it's almost as though you're blasting off Team Rocket's henchmen.

Reason 2- Poppy is a game changer. She's tanky enough to be a top laner and she has the utility of a support. She can engage with her E and ultimate if it comes down to it and she can pick targets with her Ultimate simply by not channeling it its full length. Even then, during the late-game teamfights, Poppy can take out key elements of the opponent's team. For example, Poppy can knock away that pesky Tahm Kench who's annoying your team, or blast off that crippling fed Yi who will decimate your team in the traditional five versus five setting. By removing obstacles from your path, you make teamfights easier for your team all the more.

Reason 3- "It's hammer time."

Laning Phase

During the laning phase, Poppy's role is simply to cs. You farm and focus on taking out creeps so that you can save enough money for your next item. Utilizing your passive is a key element during the laning phase. Your passive can be used to last hit and provide you with a useful shield that can mitigate the pokes of your opponent, alleviating some of their harass if they're not a melee champion like yourself.

Keep an eye on Iron Ambassador's cooldown because it will play a role in your fights. Iron Ambassador gives you 15% of your maximum health. Let's place some emphasis on maximum health. This item is literally a shield. It operates akin to a barrier and it's like having three summoners instead of one. Using it in the midst of a fight and catching it like a Draven axe can turn a fight in your favor because of that additional HP. As long as your opponent's isn't a bruiser who can burst you down in moments, you will have the edge in that trade-off because the health that they're poking off is going to consist of your passive's shield.

Be Careful Of
Running after your shield incessantly. Sometimes, your shield is going to go to a location that is more idealistic for your opponent to grab hold of. In addition, Riven's and other champions with strong movement because of their skills or abilities will also be pesky and good players will intercept your shield before you get the opportunity to pick it up. Last hitting a minion is the surefire way to get the shield onto your Poppy and protect her from the efforts of your opponent laner.

Passive - Iron Ambassador
Description: Iron Ambassador allows Poppy to throw her buckler at a target unit, gaining range and bonus magic damage with the strike. The buckler lands at a nearby location and can be picked up to give Poppy a shield made of 15% of Poppy's maximum health.

If the buckler is the killing blow, the buckler automatically returns to Poppy to save her the hassle of traveling to pick it up.

Operation: The Iron Ambassador is the butter to the bread of Poppy. You can still eat bread without butter, but the Iron Ambassador can help make your work easier.

It is a strong choice to last-hit minions with your shield so that you can automatically have it return to you. That way, you can alleviate the damage that you take from enemy poke and trades if they ever occur.

The Iron Ambassador can also be used as an efficient poke against your opponent as well.
Q - Hammer Shock
Description: Poppy swings her hammer into the ground, dealing damage and creating a zone that will slow enemies and explode after a short delay.

Operation: Hammer Shock is a powerful technique that scales off of not only your AD, but your opponent's maximum health points. Hammer Shock is difficult to hit though because of its narrow width, so it is important to use this correctly. It is also not advised to use this for farming unless you're certain that you will be able to maximize the mana cost. Using Q too many times in the lane can quickly exhaust your mana reserves and give you little ability to operate against an opponent trade. After some work, you get used to the Hammer Shock and you'll be able to use it effectively against your opponent. The delayed explosion can also be used as a trap for an invading jungler, by slowing them down and hitting them with that percent damage near the end by leaving it in their path.
W - Steadfast Presence
Description: Poppy stops enemy dashes around her and gains movement speed.

Operation: Steadfast Presence is the most cancerous tool that is on Poppy. I don't mean it in a negative way. I mean it in a good way that you get the opportunity to toy with your enemies. Irelia Q? Raise your W and watch her smack into an invisible wall erected by the sheer godliness of your presence. W is highly reliant on your reflexes and how well you can predict an enemy move. Your opponent will try to bait out your W and if you use it too early, you will end up taking the brunt end of a trade or even perhaps dying to your enemy, letting them snowball your lane. This technique also works well in unison with E so that you can rout your opponent and smash them into a wall. This is the only mobility/escape/defensive measure that you really have on Poppy and its cooldown is large. Those who waste it too early repent it later on in the fight.
E - Heroic Charge
Description: Poppy dashes to the target and pushes it back. If the target collides with terrain, it is stunned.

Operation: This is probably the most key move in Poppy's moveset. You are able to stun your opponent for a few seconds if you can land this move. It is utterly useless if you can't ram them into some part of the terrain. It can be used as an escape or as a chasing mechanism, though it's highly unadvisable that you use it to engage on your opponent. Your opponent will be knocked backwards with you and you may find yourself in a precarious situation. Because the Heroic Charge operates in such a way though, you can use it to ram your opponent into situations that are not favorably for them.

Example: Enemy Caitlyn uses her Net to try and escape Yasuo, who is currently chasing her. You execute W to make a beeline for Caitlyn's back and use E to smash her right into Yasuo, giving Yasuo another chance at killing Caitlyn.

Example: An allied Vayne has just smashed an opponent into terrain using Condemn. Just as the stun is about to be over, you smash into the same opponent back into the terrain, extending the stun duration greatly and resulting in a secured kill.
R - Keeper's Verdict
Description: Poppy channels a hammer strike that knocks enemies very far away.

Operation: This technique is possibly the most game-changing technique in the game. Here are some of its key purposes in League of Legends current meta.

1. Removing of the pesky enemy carry.
- Example: The enemy Yi is incredibly fed. He uses ultimate and attempts to screw over your ADC by dashing into them. Once the Q is over and the Yi reappears, Poppy has channeled her ultimate to its maximum and throws Yi away from the teamfight. Because the Yi has engaged already, the enemy team has also followed in to follow up Yi's attack. This results in them losing one of their strongest attackers and they quickly lose the early segment of the teamfight, killing off a couple of their champions and giving you the opportunity to reignite a 5 v 3 against the leftovers of the Yi coalition.

2. Saving Baron/Dragon
- Example: The five enemies are at Baron and are attempting to take it. Enemy Jungler is Kha'Zix. You channel your ult while behind the bush and as your team is overtaking the enemy, you smash the enemy jungler far away from Baron so that they cannot smite it. Because you've removed Smite from them, you have given yourself more security to smite and steal their precious objective.

3. Knock-Up
- Example: Poppy decides not to channel her ultimate. In a one v one, she smashes into her enemy, Q's the target, autoattacks a few times, and ults the enemy into the air temporarily. Poppy then ignites, autoattacks a final time, and leaves, having used the ult as not only CC, but also as a source of damage.

The Start
With the advent of the New Season, Junglers are expected to start either Blue Buff or Red Buff. In Poppy's case, it is more advantageous to take the red buff. Not only that, but because of Poppy's Q start, she is excellent at clearing mass amounts of units. After taking red, strategically move to take your side's raptors, then truck along to the nearby Rift Scuttler. In that route, you head into the opponent's jungle to try and take their respective buff or do an early level 2 engage.

The raptors will be fairly difficult if you are not good at aiming your Q; otherwise, you will take all of the raptors out with your Q or at least deal a significant amount of damage. If you do not feel comfortable taking raptors though, you can move to the other side of the map, take your respective Blue Buff, Gromp, and then gank your nearest lane.

In this section, I will be going over Poppy play in different Leagues. Note that I have only ever played in the Silver and Gold League, so information regarding Bronze is all from videos I have watched of the elo.

Bronze League

Within this league, you're going to find players that are going to feed and players who are going to be completely useless. However, as Poppy, you can act as the beacon of shining hope for your entire team and turn the matches around. Because of the low level of play in Bronze, by playing well, you can take the reins of the operation as Poppy.

Tips

Win your lane. This could either be difficult or easy depending on your skill level. Remember to focus on last-hitting your creeps, staying an appropriate distance from your opponent, and attempting to deny them farm if they come in for a last-hit themselves.

Engage in teamfights. Poppy isn't the type of champion to be spending time split-pushing like Tryndamere. You won't be building Attack Speed and your main priority will not be on damage items. At this level, there's no reason to split push unless you're that far away from an upcoming teamfight that you could make better use of your time attaining an objective.

Prevent yourself from dying. Do not do risky maneuvers. You're in Bronze for a reason. You're still learning the game and getting a hang of the mechanics. If you're fed, be my guest, dive away. However, in the early game, unless you are highly certain of your abilities on a dive, it is better to play safe and prevent your opponent from snowballing. It is doubtful that those in the Bronze League would be able to snowball effectively, but precautions are always necessary in winning games.

Silver Division

In the Silver Division, the level of play goes up by one. However, elements of both Gold and Bronze are still prevalent in Silver and they coalesce in this League. This is also the League that the majority of players are in. You'll find a lot of variety in Silver Division, sometimes not even obeying the meta.

Gold Division

In the Gold Division, you'll see that picks will make or break a game. Poppy is still a very acceptable pick in the Gold Division, and her ult can be a gamebreaker depending on how it is used functionally. Poppy's goal is to peel for the ADC for the most part, or take out the opponent ADC. The W stops any dash-based gap closers that people might use to try and take out the ADC on your team, and your E can provide a stun that can stack with those of other ADCs such as Vayne. The Q acts as a slow and since it takes percent health, it's very efficient to use in team fights.

The ultimate should be saved to usually reject tanks from the battle, so that they cannot peel for their ADC.

Tips

It becomes essential for you to farm effectively and properly. Good timing of your shield and learning basic turret tactics will be employed here. For one, you need to learn that melee minions, if struck twice by a turret, give you the opportunity to last hit. It is a bit tricky for a ranged minion, as you must hit them once, let the turret hit them once, and then take the last hit from there during the early-game.

Understand the range of your E. You need to become comfortable with striking opponents into the terrain. You need to learn and master the top lane, by understanding the terrain thoroughly.

Vision ward your bush. If you're purple, vision ward your tri-bush. If you're blue, it's preferable to vision ward your river's bush unless your jungler is so incompetent that the enemy jungler is easily able to gank you from behind your turret via the tri-bush there.

Exercise strong picking skills and decision-making abilities. Your ultimate is a game-changer and you need to learn who to pick off. Learn how to identify people who are fed and learn to identify people who will counter your team. It is good to pick so that you can prevent any assassin from creeping up on your ADC or your Mid-Laner, so that your DPS is in tact. Or, if you're the one carrying your team, blast away the one who is most annoying. You can even blast off enemies while you're contesting for an objective or tower. Learn to aim your ultimate and learn to comfortably channel it before a teamfight engage.