A Poppy main's opinion on the Poppy rework

Alright so I've been spamming Poppy top since her rework, sad to see what she has become. Now while she is much more viable in lane, I don't feel like she's a more viable character than the old Poppy (who I used to jungle with. Devourer + new Guinsoos good times for all). I don't actually like jungling though, I just liked Poppy so that's how I played her.

Now, since I can play her top, I thought I may be happier with her. Even though there are a few wonderful things about her, it doesn't seem to add up.

What's good? Her buckler passive makes laning as her, well, possible. The ranged harass and shield to trade with are huge and are what wins me the lane if I use it well. Without it, I often lose trades, and that's fine. That's a good dynamic to have. Also, her W is fantastic. Not only does it hard-counter a few matchups (Riven) and help the team make some catches on people like Kalista/Vayne, it makes her laning safer. Most junglers will gank with a gapcloser you can just shrug off, and if that doesnt work, you have your ulti. Which brings me to my next point

Her ultimate has a lot of good to it...and also a lot of bad. In lane, I love using it to instantly slam the opponent up to reposition for a wall stun. And, like I said, keeps Poppy even safer from ganks. I'm not a top main so safety is important to me. So what's bad about it? It feels like it just kinda...falls off. Of course there are the clutch moments when you ult away the Mundo to win a big teamfight you wouldn't have won otherwise, but more often than not, you'll either miss it due to its slow speed, it'll get interrupted, or you'll knock a guy or two away, but your team won't capitalize on it (if they even can).

Poppy wants to be in the thick of the fight, but her itemization is kind of weird. Most people opt for the Black Cleaver into tank strat, getting Iceborn as a 2nd item. Others may jungle and go cinderhulk into full tank, or warrior into BC, and while they do synergize well with her kit, something feels off. It's hard to explain, but it feels like there's an imbalance. Sometimes you don't feel like you do damage even if you build it, mainly because basically all of the damage is in her Q and wall-slam. The Q can be a little awkward to hit sometimes, especially in the heat of battle (but it's good for the most part). If you nail 2+ people with it, they'll definitely feel it, but that's hard.

Poppy's W and R make her great at peeling, but her E and Q make you want to get in the fight, run past the enemy front-line / flank and wallslam a carry. As old Poppy, flanking a team and one-shotting their carries while using Diplomatic Immunity felt great. With new Poppy, it's hard to tell what you want to do. Since you're not immune to CC anymore, engaging becomes less of an option, but if you stay with your carries in an attempt to protect them, sometimes you feel like you're just not doing anything.

So what is she supposed to be? Obviously not an assassin anymore. Bruiser Poppy feels natural but somewhat underpowered. I'm starting to think she's just a tank, melee Janna at this point. While she can win lane, teamfighting as Poppy feels super awkward. There's so much room for error with her - which isn't a bad thing, there's definitely a lot to master with her new kit.At the same time, I feel like the challenge in playing her may be to the point where even an amazing Poppy player could find himself feeling worthless in a fight.

So what should be done about this? Honestly there are just a few things that could be done to put her on the right track. Her W and E are solid, but the ultimate could use more tuning. For what it is, I was underwhelmed at how far a fully charged channel sent the enemy back. Also, the knockback doesn't increase with levels into R, so I feel like that's something to touch on. Perhaps make rank 1 R knock back less than current, rank 2 be more or less the same, rank 3 needs a boost. Also, a shot speed upgrade wouldn't go unappreciated, but I understand that that is somewhat unreasonable to ask for. "git good scrub."

I also feel like her Q should slow the enemies down more at later levels. It's hard enough to use optimally in teamfights, and more often than not, I can nail two people with it who then proceed to walk/dash out of it. I would suggest making the slow slightly lower at earlier ranks while buffing it a bit higher at later ones. Her Q does a TON of damage, but only with both hits. I feel like a change in the slow amount would make her more reliant on wall-stunning in lane to proc both hits (which is good!) while making it more guaranteed at later levels to help her scale effectively.

So those are what I can think of off the top of my head. Agree / disagree? I know she's basically a new champion and it's expected to be bad with her for awhile, but I feel like these changes would make more accessible and fit her old self better with scaling, Right now she sits around a 41-43% winrate, among the lowest in the game (I know, new champion = played more = more loses, but still), so I'd love to see if Riot could give her a little more love. :)