Did poppy have Cotc or did she have grasp? It makes a big difference actually. If she has grasp, she can trade more regularly but doesn't particularly win hard any one trade of damage. If she has cotc she wants to get off one good trade to make you cower away from her so you don't punish her when shield wears off. Last I checked, she's a tough matchup IF the player is really good, but if you know renekton equally well, she has 0 chance w/o tons of jungle help. Avoid poppy's q damage, stay away from walls when possible -- esp. at low hp. Do this and she can't really chunk you out at all. The %hp damage on her q is what damages you; otherwise she's trading autos with you and you do more damage per auto. When her w shield is down -- that's when you use your e. If she's e, w, q comboing you, trade back with autos and maybe a q (if you can hit minions as well and it is empowered), remember to sidestep to avoid 2nd proc of her q, then follow up when she tries to disengage by using e, w, e combo -- with autos wove in of course. Poppy is most definitely not overpowered -- plenty of champs are more tanky and have the same amount of damage or equally tanky but with more damage. Poppy is just played so often because she has a unique champ kit packed with cc that synergizes well enough to allow her to outplay opponents if she knows her stuff. She's kind of the riven of tanks -- sure there are others who get the job done and may be easier to play, but she's got more 1v1 potential than them without sacrificing teamfight potential; and she does it all with style. Go back, practice your combo's, think about your itemization, the timings of your trading (into large minion wave, when enemy jungle was ganking, when your spells were on cd, when she just leveled up or had an xp lead vs you?). After buying bc, you should be building an hp armor or mr item. Poppy with cotc can tank a lot of up front damage, but the shield doesn't last forever -- trade auto's or just kite back from her while it's up, then when it wears off go in with your spells and chunk her. If she didn't use her w when she e, q'd you you can always dash through her, q the minion wave to heal up and build rage before turning back on her with auto's and your stun. Remember to always use w as an auto reset to maximize your damage. If you are 1/3 hp and have no more than one item, you should probably just back instead of fighting -- you win extended fights; she win's burst trade fights via her cotc shield. Staying at 1/3 hp is just asking for her to all-in combo you and kill you before your greater damage takes effect. Also, abuse the fact that she has no lifesteal -- you have q sustain. If you can outlast her mana pool early, she has nothing to chunk you out with any more while you still have all your abilities whenever they are off cd -- keep her in lane when she's oom by pushing her in -- she either has to stay and risk you diving her with jungle and killing her (when she can't outplay because she has no mana for spells) or she misses cs and xp -- letting you get ahead via items and levels. Unless you are a high rank player, you should probably build more defensively early as renek with fervor -- bc into tank with maybe 4th item being a 2nd damage item; if using cotc you can get away with 2nd item also being hybrid tank/damage item as long as you trade around your cotc shield.
