[Champion Rework] Poppy, the Iron Ambassador

TytoCorvus·Mar 15, 2014·3 votes·585 views

League of Legends is growing older, and while we're seeing a lot of new content, many of the games earliest champions designs are growing out of date. Shaco, Warwick, Alistair, and Sion are on the list of champions Riot is currently looking into and starting work on, but Poppy doesn't yet have a spot. Her priority is low, likely due to a combination of the fact that she'd be a lot of work (a large overhaul) and she doesn't have a large player base calling for buffs, like Shaco or Alistair.

For this reason, i have designed a rework for Poppy that leaves her much stronger as a whole while retaining her identity. Poppy is a young girl, but unafraid of being in the middle of the fray. She is armored and carries a large shield and a trusty hammer. For these reasons, i feel as if it is better for her to be designed with more focus on being a fighter than being an assassin. Her laning won't be overpowering but with the new skills she should be very strong later in the game, once she has accumulated Attack Damage, Cooldown Reduction, Health, and Resists through items.

Remember that all numbers provided here are merely experimental, and are subject to change.

Passive: Paragon of Demacia

Upon hitting an enemy champion with a basic attack or ability, Poppy gains one stack granting attack damage and armor for 6 seconds. The maximum number of stacks is 5. Landing a successful stun with Heroic Charge immediately grants max stacks.

Armor/AD per stack: 3/4/5/6/7/8 (increasing every 3 levels)

Max Armor/AD bonus: 15/20/25/30/35/40

Q: Devastating Blow

Poppy swings her hammer overhead with her next autoattack, dealing physical damage and shredding a flat amount of the targets bonus armor for 4 seconds. The buff will stack as many times as Poppy can apply the debuff.

Bonus Damage: 40/80/120/160/200 (+ 1.4 Total AD)

Armor Debuff: 8/10/12/14/16 (+0.1 per Bonus AD)

Cooldown: 3 seconds at all ranks

Mana: 30 at all ranks

W: Heavy Swings

Poppy swings her hammer so forcefully it carries her forward briefly, dealing physical damage to enemies hit in a small radius around her. Enemy champions hit are slowed by 20/25/30/35/40%, decaying over 2 seconds. If Poppy does not hit any champions, she instead carries her momentum through, gaining the same move speed multiplier decaying over 2 seconds. Can be cast twice before going on cooldown.

Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 (+ 0.8 Bonus AD)

Cooldown: 11/10/9/8/7

Mana Cost: 45/50/55/60/65

Movement Range per cast: 250

Hit Radius: ~125

E: Heroic Charge

Poppy charges at an opponent and if she hits them carries them with her, dealing physical damage. Any other champions hit by Poppy are also carried along the whole way. If the target(s) collide with a wall, they take the initial damage again and are stunned for 1.5 seconds.

Damage: 40/70/100/130/160 (+ 0.4 Total AD)

Cooldown: 18/16.5/15/13.5/12

Mana: 70 at all ranks

Width: ~175
Missile Speed: 1700 (?)
Cast Range: 525 (unchanged)
Poppy maximum Charge Distance: 825 (unchanged)

R: Diplomatic Immunity

Poppy chooses a target to assassinate: Around this target appears a field of 500 Radius, inside which Poppy gains 15/20/30% Damage and Damage Reduction, and is immune to all debuffs and crowd control. This field takes 1 second to appear and lasts for 6/7/8 seconds

Cooldown: 140/115/90

Mana Cost: 100

Cast Range: 1000

I feel like these changes will significantly improve the experience of those playing as or against Poppy. She has the look and lore of a hammer-wielding fighter but plays like a hybrid assassin that can ult an insignificant target then run in the opposite direction and kill the carries. The new kit should fix these issues - Poppy now benefits from charging into the fight, and sticking close to the target she chooses. Her passive is more interesting, and paired with her ult allows her to play a tankier role if she so wishes. Paired with Q it improves strength in long fights. W now has clearer strengths and is more satisfying to use, and in conjunction with E it gives her greater playmaking ability and allows her to stay in range of her target. The new ult now has more counterplay; with a range and a setup time, other teams should be less frustrated dealing with Poppy now that the solution is no longer just to ignore or run away from her, it is to keep her from getting inside the zone she creates.

Let me know if you like the changes, and thank you for reading, any and all positive feedback is welcome!

7 Comments

AnonagonMar 16, 20142 votes

I like the migration of W to her passive. Makes sense really.

Feel kind of indifferent to the Q change, though I think with that low of a cooldown and that low of a cost it might be broken, especially since it stacks indefinitely.

Not digging the lack of AP ratios and the change to physical damage. Its too generic. Part of Poppy's identity is mixed damage - high up front magic damage, with sustained physical damage to follow up. Its what makes her good lategame, and changing that screws her as soon as the enemy buys Randuins.

I don't get W really. Might want to clear that up a bit. But if I am correct, you intend it to be a double 250 distance dash that slows opponents? I don't really see the point in this. You say you want to turn her into a sustained damage fighter, yet here you add another two .8 AD ratios to her burst. Also, AoE damage does NOT belong on her kit. I'll elaborate a bit more on that later.

E, once again I don't like the switch to AD/Physical, and I don't like the fact that you let it effect multiple targets. Also, by making the initial damage and the wall damage the same, you make Poppy less rewarded for making good plays. The wall damage should do more damage than the initial damage.

Now, your suggested R is... not good. The reason for this is the same reason that AoE damage does not belong in her kit - Poppy is all about focusing one target and smashing their face in. If you look at her current kit, it makes sense. E is there to isolate her target, Passive W and R are there to let her ignore her target's teammates, and Q is to smash her target with. Her R is meant to be a forced 1v1. Tunnel Vision. Complete ignorance of everything but her target. While this isn't how it plays out in her current kit, your suggested kit sacrifices this for a very generic bruiser playstyle.

TytoCorvusMar 16, 20141 votes

Great feedback.

Identity for Poppy is a big issue, it should seem. Poppy to me always seemed like a fighter who is unafraid to get in the fray and swing her hammer around, but that doesn't seem like the type of champion that should be building glass to me either. It never made sense to me that a blacksmiths daughter would be charging people into walls and slamming them with a hammer to deal primarily magical damage, you know?

That's why i used the damage and gave her the armor reduction mechanic on Q - to perhaps deal with armor stackers, especially if she decides to build DPS. As for W, largely it's positioning and adds damage; it is AoE, but it isn't supposed to be a very large one. More or less it's supposed to either help her get on her target or stick to it. The ratios can be changed if they are deemed too large, but as it is, it's really hard to balance numbers when it's just a concept. Remember it can be dodged and in all likelihood she may be using one of the swings just to get on a target.

I disagree with the statement about E, however. I think (and i'm sure many people would agree) that getting the additional damage plus a potential multi-purpose stun plus the immediate max stacks on her passive would be plenty rewarding, but perhaps it does confuse the idea that she's primarily supposed to be a single-target fighter. The most important positive to this change though is that it's supposed to allow build variability - Poppy should have the potential to build damage or survivability if she wants. Wouldn't make sense for a girl covered in armor not to, right? She should be able to make plays with tankier builds too was my train of thought.

What do you mean by her R isn't about focusing a target? That's specifically what it's good for, the Poppy player would do whatever they could to stay on that target because if they aren't, they're sacrificing a lot as well, unlike the current way Poppy works.

Either way, a very well worded response with good criticism. Thank you.

AnonagonMar 17, 20141 votes

The most important positive to this change though is that it's supposed to allow build variability - Poppy should have the potential to build damage or survivability if she wants. Wouldn't make sense for a girl covered in armor not to, right? She should be able to make plays with tankier builds too was my train of thought.

I don't get how your suggested E change is meant to give her build variety. Am I missing something?

About R - The way I would like R to be is a "forced 1v1". Basically like this:

R - Diplomatic Immunity - Poppy targets an enemy champion - for 6/7/8 seconds, she and her target cannot damage any target but each other. Poppy deals 20/30/40% percent increased damage to the target for the duration. If Poppy kills her target, the duration of Diplomatic Immunity increased by 3 seconds.

And the reason I want her R to work like that is because of how I think Poppy should be played - as an assassin.

I think our disagreements come from the fact that we both want to take Poppy in different directions - you want her to be an AD bruiser-tank, while I would like her to remain a hybrid damage assassin. In an accompanying VU to her rework, you would probably expect something similar to the way she looks now, while I would hope for something more lightly armored with heavy visual emphasis on her hammer and no shield.

Now, while you may say that hybrid damage doesn't make sense or whatnot, I want it to stay mainly because Poppy remains the only damage building champion in the game who truly builds and deals mixed damage. Jax and Ez go all AD. Shyv builds full tank. Akali and Kennen do only magic damage. All of Riots attempts at Hybrid damage have failed except Poppy, and for that reason alone Poppy should stay hybrid.

So let me just say - I completely disagree with where you want to take Poppy. And that's fine, you are entitled to your opinion. If that is how Riot wants her to be, who am I to say no?

Galactus BaitsMar 16, 20141 votes

i like it. i really like new ult but she should still get immunity in that circle cause any smart poopy players today can ult a support and have team fight immuntity there should be a distance requirment for immunity

TytoCorvusMar 16, 20141 votes

Thanks! Sorry i didn't make it clear though, i meanr when inside the circle, she gains the damage amplifier, the damage reduction, and the crowd control immunity. Her ult does nothing for her if she isn't actually inside the circle, but is supposed to be really strong when near her target.

jwf999Mar 16, 20141 votes

Honestly I feel poppy is meant to be a support

ChaosThiefMar 16, 20141 votes

Poppy is being reworked into a tank, not a full blown carry. And the reason she needs a rework is because she is BORING.

That ult effect is a huge nerf btw, it's much more effective than that in all ways.

Mess with her kit a bit, not change things. I find poppy fine as is currently, but she is boring.

EDIT: read a bit more, and noticed a few changes, my bad. But the passive was previously 10 stacks, with 0.5 per rank starting at 1.5... you may be buffing poppy too much.