Talk:Poppy/@comment-86.149.75.28-20120828122613/@comment-5413923-20120828180727

I'm not experienced enough to know about good/bad matchups, but I can give you some tips about her lane.

Rule One: Passively farm. Poppy only has two damaging abilities and they’re both single target, so you are going to have difficulty managing minion waves all throughout lane phase. Additionally, her low mana pool prevents you from harassing champions too much with those spells; never forget that Poppy’s mana pool is BAD, and her abilities are not cheap. Fortunately, her passive mitigates damage from opponent pokes and makes her practically impossible to burst down if you play it safe, so if you build an early sustain item like Philo that should tide you over. Pre-Level 6 you MUST play passively and just hold on to as much XP as you can manage. Don’t be greedy. If your opponent foolishly stands too close to a wall, by all means punish them with an E or an EQ, but then back off; you’re just trying to force a stalemate. Another thing to consider is that because her passive works so well against bursts, opponents CANNOT tower-dive her effectively; you can use this defensively, or offensively by baiting them into trying, then either use W to kite or E to stun and let the tower do the rest. Her passive can also discourage enemy ganks, but don’t lean on it like a crutch.

Also, rush Sheen. Poppy loves Sheen.

Once you hit 6 the game changes. Poppy is now suddenly the most dangerous tower-diver in the game, because that tower no longer exists for her. Keep conserving your mana, but harass more and chip away at their health bar. Once they’re low enough you dive and you dive HARD. Hold off on activating your ult until you’re at the tower’s range to tank as many shots as you can; in lane the value of your ult is the invulnerability, not the damage amp. If you managed to hold on to your lane pre-6, your ult can really help you push back and get you enough cash to become more of a threat. Don’t forget what you learned pre-6, though; her ult has a long cooldown. If you’re LOSING your lane, however, call in the jungler for a double-team; Poppy can still kill if she’s behind, but she can’t push.

I feel like people play up Poppy’s bad lane more than they should. Poppy is an assassin: good at single-target combat, bad at multi-target combat, good at burst damage, bad at sustained damage. It’s just the way the deck is stacked for such characters. Riot knew this when they made her, and that’s why she’s got her passive and a lot of natural armor so she can survive lane.

I hope this helps. I know there’s a lot of holes in it; I’m just sharing what little I know.