I recently purchased Poppy because I was attracted to her incredible burst potential and the ability to single out an opponent and (often) gaurentee a kill. It's said she is the best Anti-carry in the game and even after just a few games with her I'm convinced that is a fact.

Currently, I'm running CDR Blues, Flat Health Yellows, MPen Reds, and Flat Health Quints... These are what I have from another champions Rune Page and they fit "okay" with Poppy. I'm currently using 9/0/21 masteries, focusing on CDR, with points in the mana regen, etc.

Build wise, I have been rushing Sheen, then getting boots -> Sorc, then DfG and building Sheen into Lich Bane, then Rabbadons.


The problems, are these: Poppy is easily harassed by a good majority of champions, in lane, and even throughout the game her farming is down-right horrible. She can take a decent hit and packs an incredible punch in return. . . But I feel that she's unable to sustain herself in the field without some form of HP Regen and/or Spellvamp/LifeSteal.

I'd like to remedy those problems... So I'm asking any experienced Poppy players out there to open their minds real wide and brainstorm with me, considering the following questions:

-Is Jungle/Roaming Poppy POSSIBLE to pull off?

-What items/compromises would be required to pull it off effectively?

-How can I increase her survivability and sustainability early in the game while still keeping the primary focus on her incredible ability destroy carries?

-How viable would it be to pick up a regrowth pendant? OR what about building a Hextech Revolver rather early? This could be turned into a Hextech Gunblade + Lichbane combo later?

-Spell Pen for all casters is incredibly important.. But what about boots of Mobility for a roaming Poppy? As a carry, the idea of a Poppy roaming around with Boots of Mobility, lane to lane, waiting to strike out with Heroic Charge followed up by Devastating blow during the laning phase causes me downright dread.

Basically, I'd like to think-tank some solutions to AP Poppy's problems whilst retaining her amazing advantages.

Philo stone, Sheen, boots, kages luck pick....

/5 gold items .

I start with the regrowth pendant.

I used to use merc treads... but the new tencity item gives me the options of mobility, swiftness or sorc shoes.

forget gunblade but Lich bane is great.

Well i love playing poppy the best player i believe and literally the best anti carry ever.

Just gotta get it out of my system that i firmly believe AD poppy is more an option than

AP poppy, thats all. but anyways when i play poppy i rush first for double philo stones

ASAP and that should be some good survivability in the early phase and also help with

poppy's poor farm.

Just skip AP and go AD to win with poppy. trin, some AD and some tankyness should you need it = win. Double phil stones is great to offset her poor early farm. That problem, by the way, is even bigger if you build her AP as her only damage is from 2 spells...

AP poppy is a highly specialized build designed to do one thing and one thing only. Find her target, snipe it and get out possibly for a second round. The strength of AP poppy is extreme burst potential but at the same time her weakness is zero sustained damage. The problem with Poppy is therefore implicitly that she is a lousy farmer however with enough mana regen you can exploit DB for farm.

So you don't just pick AP poppy of the shelf and rape, you need to have at least two obvious targets on enemy team that you can farm and your team composition needs to allow for you to remain passive just waiting for the opportunity to strike.

You depend on getting kills to do well becasuse of your farming handicap.

As for build I would recommend going
Runes: HP quints, MPen marks, MR5/lvl Seals, CDR glyphs
Masteries: 9/0/21
Summoner Spells: Ghost + Flash/Exhaust

This is a typical caster setup and it is by no means the one-and-only setup because in this respect poppy is very versatile, her combo will blow stuff up regardless.

As for items Philo stone combined with your passive will give you high lane presence if you want to skip past the early gank dependency. I've had many enemies go WTF?! as I dangle out of close fights with the regen effect literally keeping me alive.

Otherwise if you want to gank early and fast and take a chance if you will - you best be familiar with poppy before you do - then go for a Amp tome and rush Sheen.

The core build for AP Poppy is Lich Bane, DFG and Sorc Boots and this is basically what you need to instagib them squishies Ulti -> DFG -> Charge -> Smash will deal such crazy damage it's not even funny being your enemy. Note in particular the synergy of Ulti and DFG.

This is basically it. And I just just stress the importance it is that you do not waste your combo - failing in other words - because that is like cutting your potential in half until CDR is off again. In other words there is a very thin line between success and failure when playing AP poppy which is why you need some experience to do it right.

AD Poppy is just your average AD carry with Tri-Force and some funky abilities to back you up. It's a cookie cutter really.