Poppy's W should ground enemies, instead of "knocking down"

The Ecdysiast··1 votes·813 views

This has little effect on those who'd escape with a dash, as they already have to wait out the 2.5s duration anyway. But it would allow Poppy to prevent blinks and dashes that are currently immune to her W as well-- though it's very important to note that unlike the current functionality, those abilities wouldn't be put on cooldown for a failed attempt, they'd simply not be cast in the first place.

To balance it, I'd suggest further reducing or even outright removing the movement speed granted by her W, so she can't just stick to an opponent she already knocked herself into and slowed. The fact it's only 2.5 seconds is also a balancing factor, though this could also be reduced or have the cooldown increased.

Pros for Poppy:

  • The usefulness of her W would go from 45% of champions to 50%, or everyone if including flash
  • She wouldn't have to be reserved as a counter-pick to Riven and Lee Sin

Cons for Poppy (aspects that balance this suggestion):

  • With the knockdown removed, the ability would deal no damage (since there'd be no point where it "hits" the enemy)
  • Enemies' abilities won't go on cooldown if they attempt to dash
  • She won't be able to use it to stop champions getting to her

Based on the explanation given by Riot for her changes this patch, it seems like my suggestion fits perfectly into what they want for her-- they want her to get in and do her combo, without the option to just coast by and wander around the mid-range E'ing people. What this will do is prevent her W from being used as counter-engage (especially during the lane phase against dashing junglers like Lee or Xin), but give her more strength when she does as intended and initiates the fight, where she'll be able to prevent escape and any movement-reliant counter engage the enemy may attempt in that 2.5s window. (think like, she'd be able to E into the enemy team and stop their Malphite from ulting for 2.5 seconds as long as he doesn't just Q and walk out of her w)

5 Comments

Dead flag blues2 votes

It would kill Poppy support tho, it's a really strong counterpick to Alistar Leona Thresh Nautilus

The Ecdysiast1 votes

Poppy isn't supposed to be a support.

VoraciousX2 votes

Poppy's W is not meant to prevent people getting away from her. It's meant to turn initiations into openings for her team. At least this has always been my first impression of it. I mean it CAN be used to stop people from getting out of it, but far less often than using it to interrupt an initiation and turn it around. Putting a grounding effect around her would honestly be a nerf, because then those initiations would still go through(because they used their mobility from outside Poppy's circle).

Also as you mentioned a counterpick for Riven, Poppy's W would then nullify ALL of Riven's abilities outside of her W. There would be literally no counterplay to her for this matchup. Riven would AUTO LOSE this matchup permanently and there would literally be NO way to win vs her, because it's an ability Poppy would only use as a reaction to Riven fighting her. Here's how the matchup would go: Riven E's into Poppy, Poppy activates W. Riven can no longer use Q, or E, and relegates to ONE passive proc with a W, then continues standing there auto attacking her or trying to walk away, in which case Poppy likely pins her up against a wall as she does so. Poppy is already tanky so Riven would have trouble fighting her anyways, but with this she just would basically have to roll over and die.

The Ecdysiast1 votes

Well, your impression of it is simply wrong, as the dashes that act as the strongest initiations are immune to her W. And like I said, this isn't about keeping her as-is, since it's obvious Riot wants to prevent her from being that passive.

And as I said, the duration or cooldown can be reduced to account for the increase in its usability. Riven already has the choice of either getting knocked down or waiting the duration if she lacks the speed to leave, so it actually doesn't affect her as much as you're implying. She'd only be as countered as she already is, less so, actually, considering Poppy would lose the ability to use her W as a reaction to a dash.

VoraciousX1 votes

{quoted}

Well, your impression of it is simply wrong, as the dashes that act as the strongest initiations are immune to her W. And like I said, this isn't about keeping her as-is, since it's obvious Riot wants to prevent her from being that passive.

And as I said, the duration or cooldown can be reduced to account for the increase in its usability. Riven already has the choice of either getting knocked down or waiting the duration if she lacks the speed to leave, so it actually doesn't affect her as much as you're implying. She'd only be as countered as she already is, less so, actually, considering Poppy would lose the ability to use her W as a reaction to a dash.

She's not meant to counter unstoppable champions. Just because that's the case, doesn't mean I am wrong in the slightest. Of all of those champions, none of them are top laners, except Sion and Malphite that I can think of, and Poppy's W is a BASIC ABILITY, and Riot doesn't want to remove an ultimate's ability to work just because Poppy used a 10 second cooldown ability. It stops most strong engages. It's used for her to turn fights in her favor. You just have a clearly different opinion of Poppy than everyone else and again, her W would KILL Riven, as she would literally be unable to fight her inside of her W, while Poppy could easily slow her, reposition, and wall bang, or at the very least do whatever she wanted to in the area with Riven being able to do nothing about it. That's not a healthy trade pattern.

More from Gameplay

More by The Ecdysiast