User blog comment:Alonlah/Poppys viability in the current meta and her status in the PBE./@comment-6867526-20130817160500/@comment-15244341-20130817200513

Except no Riven that knows how to even play Riven will let you farm happily for 24 minutes, give you kills and generally be your happy-go lane friend. Top is harsh, and Poppy gets zoned to hell and back in top lane. Riven, Darius, Lee Sin, Elise, Garen, Irelia, Jarvan, Jax, Jayce, Renekton and probably more, can and will outrade Poppy, force her to trade or run and lose CS (zoning, that is) and most likely kill her while she is low on health. Passive notwithstanding. And while having mana left.

Imagine the most reviled hit and run top laner, Lee Sin, vs Poppy. Every time his skills are on cooldown, he will go in. If you run, bye bye CS. If you fight, bye bye mana with terribly ineffective cost efectiveness. I you stay and don't fight... bye bye Poppy, I guess xD. And she's got no way not to be in range of his harass or harass him. Also, Lee gets sustain.

And the Nasus comparison is fair but not informed. Nasus' Q costs 20 mana, since it's used for last hits, and gets stronger when used for that. And that makes it terribly cost effective at trading, since it hits nicely hard and is cheap. Not so much early on, but definitely when he has some CS going for him. 20 creeps farmed by Nasus hitting Q when it is safe to do so are waaaay better than Poppy having 20 lasts hits in that same lane. Also, Nasus gets 14% lifesteal. At level 1. Passively. Poppy gets to tank a bit more. Sweet. Except that is no sustain. And harassed you will get. Nasus heals that. Poppy gets 50-something less damage done to her. Yay. Also, his slow is great for running away from someone in a gank. Poppy runs a bit fast and that is it.

I do like her, but more on Dominion o Twisted Treeline. That extra gold is what she needs, period. The mana regen is also a lifesaver.

And a minor nitpick. You don't harass in an engage. You trade. Harassing is done from a safe position and with no retaliation incoming. See, Jayce's Q.