What is/are Poppy's weakness(s)?

Lord Creazil·Mar 14, 2017·6 votes·2,530 views

I'm currently struggling immensely with fighting Poppy. I'm not great at the game and I only play on weekends because the current rift is terrible.

But anyway, I really cant figure out what to do vs Poppy. She does a TON of damage while building full tank, has the best CC in the game (longest knockback, knockback/stun) , AND her shield stops about half the roster from using their primary engage/mobility/disengage.

So like, does she have any weaknesses? Should I just pick up Poppy since she got reworked and thus she will not get any hard nerfs?

EDIT: I dont mean entirely in lane, i mean in RGM queues as well. Just like, as a champion. I don't lane since I dont play normal SR. I just think normal SR is the worst experience LoL has to offer.

21 Comments

Dark NephthysMar 14, 20174 votes

Play a champion that has a lot of burst and naturally tanky, and ones that don't have to rely a lot on dashes helps to. Stay away from walls and then she can't really do much to you but for dash into you and Q + auto you which if you are naturally tanky then you can easily live that and retaliate and win the trade. Champions like Darius Renekton Trundle do well into her and I'm sure Garen Olaf Sion can probably do pretty good into her.

Though personally, I've very done well with Chogath but I'm a Cho'gath player so other people who might not be as used to him might have a bit of trouble.

DynikusMar 14, 20172 votes

She does a TON of damage while building full tank, has the best CC in the game (longest knockback, knockback/stun)

well that's a pretty gross exaggeration.

Lord CreazilMar 14, 20172 votes

How so? Her damage is undeniably high for a tank. Ask anyone and they'll agree.

Her ult is the longest knockback BY FAR, at over 1000 units if even mostly charged (a whopping 1 second!!!) her charge is both a knockback and a stun if it hits terrain or tower (which is very, VERY easy to do considering the current maps)

AnagsMar 14, 20171 votes

They have nerfed her damaged multiple times. It isn't that crazy anymore. If you take both hits of her q it will hurt and it should if you mess up that much. But she isn't killing you in one combo. Her laning isn't that strong. She is just really useful in team fights and to setup ganks.

Her ult knockback is really easy to dodge especially at max range and is only useful for disengage if charged. The point blank knockup had it's damage reduced and i believe the duration as well.

Her charge had it's range decreased already as well. Just stay towards the middle of the lane and you don't have to worry about a stun. If she stuns you on a tower that is up that shouldn't be a problem unless she is fed or you are already low in which case you shouldn't be between her and the tower.

You need to play some Poppy games i think. Then you will know what you need to do to stop her. She is good but not OP anymore. Champs with sustain normally do well into her or champs that do a lot of sustained damage.

Darius, Swain, Rumble and Kayle are couple champs that do really well into her.

Slave KnightMar 14, 20172 votes

For a hyper-scaling tank, she does quite a bit of damage in the early game I must say. Coupling this with her defensive steroids and shields, it's no wonder people have trouble with her (me included).

LankPantsMar 14, 20171 votes

For a hyper-scaling tank

There's your problem, she's not a hyperscaling tank.

She has a huge drop off as the game goes on. Her damage is mostly physical which means a squishy ends up cutting it in half with their base armour and runes and a tank will take laughable damage from her. In the late game Poppy probably has the worst damage of any non-support tank. She's the only tank who has to deal with their main late game damage source being a physical damage spell.

Tanks who have the best late game scaling typically deal as close to 100% magic damage as possible. Amumu and Sejuani are probably the two best late game scaling tanks currently, although they're not hyper tanks in the same vain as Poppy, they have the best late game damage in the class because their abilities scale up well and are 100% magic damage.

Out of tanks more in the vain of Poppy I'd say Maokai and Nautilus are the two top scaling tanks. They have a lot more reliable CC and their damage doesn't fall into a pit in the same way Poppy's does since they don't have to contend with armour growth. Maokai is also just tankier than Poppy with more utility, I personally struggle to see a reason to pick Poppy over him right now.

Slave KnightMar 14, 20172 votes

I'm confused and curious. So poppy isn't a 'hyper scaling' tank as you say, but she's a 'hyper tank'? I get that her damage falls off as the game progresses but she is a complete tank in the sense that she can self-peel, peel for teammates, engage, disengage, isolate, 1v1 squishies and her resistances/defensive abilities are very powerful which is akin to Maokai and Nautilus who you agree to be 'top scaling tanks'. Is it purely because of her physical damage factor that she's left out of what you would consider 'hyper scaling' or is there more to it that I'm not seeing?

P.S: My definition of a hyper scaling tank is one who synergises well with resists and becomes an unstoppable monstrosity of tankiness well into the late game. Am I wrong to fit Poppy into that criteria?

LankPantsMar 14, 20171 votes

So poppy isn't a 'hyper scaling' tank as you say, but she's a 'hyper tank'?

She's a hyper tank in that what defines a hyper tank is the same as what defines a hyper carry. A hyper tank has the maximum bulk possible, that doesn't say anything about actual scaling. It's the same for tanks as carries, even though Kog'maw's a hyper carry in practice he's outscaled by many ADCs who you wouldn't consider hypercarries due to the superior value of their utility or mobility. It's the same for Poppy, she's a hyper tank but in practice she's outscaled by some tanks who aren't like Sejuani and Amumu due to their superior damage.

If you're arguing for her as a hyper tank I think that's fine, the word which I disagree with in your statement is scaling. She's not a tank who scales up well at all, her spike is in the mid game and she's quite possibly the weakest of any tank in the late game. The only tank I think I wouldn't take over a Poppy at 6 items is Galio and that's only because his kit is an absolute clunkfest right now. I'd take any other tank over a Poppy at 6 items, even someone like Leona or Alistar is far more reliable.

I get that her damage falls off as the game progresses but she is a complete tank in the sense that she can self-peel, peel for teammates, engage, disengage, isolate, 1v1 squishies

All of her abilities have heavy reliability issues. She can only really play out a fight if she can either flank or kite it out. When she's forced to dive she often has to E into no stun and that normally isn't good enough. She also lacks true AoE CC, her R almost is but the fact that it makes enemies untargetable makes it far worse than abilities like Depth Charge and Glacial Prison.

She's far from a complete tank, she's a tank who mostly only functions when kiting back. If you try to chase into a Poppy she tends to be super strong but she's probably the weakest of all tanks at engaging on the frontfoot.

and her resistances/defensive abilities are very powerful which is akin to Maokai and Nautilus who you agree to be 'top scaling tanks'.

I actually didn't say Mao and Naut are the top scaling tanks, they're the top scaling tanks who are like Poppy. The absolute top scaling tanks aren't like Poppy. Sejuani, Amumu, Zac Sion and Shen all scale harder than all 3 of these champs, in the first 4's case they do so by being massive AoE damage and CC threats and Shen just becomes one of the most reliable splitpushers and counter engagers in the game, with the right comp he's also an incredibly strong engage champ.

The thing is because damage is so much better than durability simply having a ton of durability isn't the optimal way to scale as a tank. It's great in the mid game when Mao, Naut and Poppy spike but into the late game tanks who can deal damage quicker and better than Poppy thrive. The thing about hyper tanks is that they fall off. The closest thing in the game to a "hyper scaling tank" is Sion, but he's not really a hyper tank in the same sense as Poppy, you can pretty much focus down a Sion in a reasonable length of time at any point in the game, he doesn't have the mid game unkillability spike the other 3 have.

Slave KnightMar 14, 20171 votes

I see. Thank you for clarifying these terms to me, it was an educational read to say the least. I guess I'll move her down into the 'hyper but not so scaling tank' category now :)

YaskamasandwichMar 14, 20172 votes

I find Poppy's weakness is usually other tanks. Her moves are telegraph and predictable. Don't stand near walls or in her Q pool. Step on her shield that destroys a lot of her tankyness and trading power. Dodge her ult if she is charging it. If she isn't it doesn't deal as much damage as it used to.

Late Game kite her out and stay a little spread out. Poppy's major weakness late game is that she relies on walls and is single target damage BUT also single target CC. Her ult is AoE but it is small. If you're a carry kite her out and buy an armor/Mr shredding item. The bulk of her defense is shields and armor/Mr. If you're the front line body block her or AoE CC their team if possible. That is if you have AoE CC or damage, if you're someone like Nasus with single target damage then be the bigger threat. Take out their carry first or force Poppy to CC you. If she has to CC you then she should be failing. Hope this helps.

DuskDaUmbreonMar 14, 20172 votes

Don't engage in the jungle, don't fight with you between her and a wall. Laning, just harass right after her shield vanishes. A solid Nasus E will chip away her health.

NatakeMar 14, 20171 votes

She's fairly easy to kite and can be shut down early game. She doesn't have a lot of mobility, although her movespeed steroid and dash can help sometimes. And I know you're gonna say this is easier said than done, but if you're not near walls, she really can't do much to you. Try to pick someone mobile who can reposition easily to avoid her shockwave, ult, and wall pinning. While this is usually a dash, and she blocks those, you just gotta be smart in how you do it. Outsmarting her is the key.

alfavhunterMar 14, 20171 votes

play shaco vs her laugh as she charges you into a wall and finds herself in 3 boxes, just to discover she charged ur clone, resulting in 6 boxes+ you placing a 7th

Lord CreazilMar 14, 20173 votes

Then cry as she shrugs off your 20s worth of setup with 2s worth of skills?

alfavhunterMar 14, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Lord Creazil,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=oRWAxxLj,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2017-03-14T08:21:54.514+0000)

Then cry as she shrugs off your 20s worth of setup with 2s worth of skills?

then you didnt do it right

if you play shaco right poppy wont want to charge you out of fear of being put into a multi box trap, ive gotten poppy to tower dive me before just to find herself running into boxes after she used her burst on the clone

proper shaco plays make people with dases afraid to use them, even with red trinket or a control ward down

PATHPINGMar 14, 20171 votes

Tall dressers.

GigaPubeMar 14, 20171 votes

theres a difference between what her weakness/es are and how to beat her. her weaknesses are that all of her abilities are melee range, meaning you can kite and poke her until shes too weak to dive your squishies in teamfights. problem is, she scales too well with tank stats, and especially with resistances, meaning at some point you will never do anything to her without your teammates. and how to beat her. kill her enough times early game, or be vayne

RalanrMar 14, 20171 votes

You can prevent her shield by stepping on it. High dps champions usually fuck tanks over so I'd recommend Quinn.

RGM isn't meant for balance and a lot of the modes are massive teamfights where she or any tank thrive in.

Teridax68Mar 14, 20171 votes

Usually, the best way to figure out a champion's weaknesses and limitations is to play them and see for yourself. My take on this is that a lot of Poppy's kit is quite reactive: if she uses her dash-stopper for its movement speed boost, you get to dash around her unrestricted afterwards, and she can only pin you to a wall if you stand next to one first. If you're playing a ranged champion, just poke her down from a distance and stay away from nearby terrain, and if you're a melee champion, try trading with her for as long as you can, as her DPS isn't great. Marksmen like Quinn and Jayce are great against her, as are juggernauts like Darius, Trundle and Garen.

As for her larger design, I'd say Poppy has a bit too much damage for a tank, but otherwise she's a champion who, most of the time, only has a stun and a slow that she can use offensively, yet is also mostly focused on single targets. Her anti-dash move doesn't really disable enemies in the same way so much as just stop one dash instance, and her ult renders her target(s) untargetable, and so has limited offensive capabilities. She's great if you want to lock a target down and prevent them from playing the game for a while, but even in that respect you have other tanks that do a better job, like Nautilus and Leona, and she's not going to be disrupting entire teams to the same extent as, say, Zac or Sejuani.