Tank Poppy Revamp Ideas

Hello, everyone! I'm new to the forums and posting in forums in general but, well, I've been thinking a lot about the revamp since the news first broke, and when I found out that the Design team intends to transform her into a tank role, I, well, probably became a little obsessed with working out in my head how that might be possible. I'm severely interested in the inenr workings of any 'statsy' game I play soooo here's a rather long post expressing some of my ideas for the tank Poppy concept.

As for my impetus, Poppy was my original 'main' for a while when I first started playing this game so I guess you could say she inhabits a special place among the slowly shifting confines of my creaky little clockwork heart.

001: Central Idea:

I envision her as a highly mobile hybrid damage Tank / Fighter that only becomes stronger the longer she stays at the center of a fight, with an emphasis on creating chaos to break up tight team positioning. With that said, I don't want to see her kit and play style be changed TOO much for the sake of the Poppy mains that exist out there, so all of the ideas I have presented here are essentially tweaks to the existing kit that would allow her to function better in the tank role.

002: Let's Talk Lore: 

Poppy's weapon, she claims to anyone who would ask, is enchanted with magic via a secret technique that was known by her father, the master blacksmith Blomgrun, which she once thought to be little more than an old-fashioned superstition. Apparently one could leave their newly prepared armaments on a mossy tree stump in a special part of the woods for precisely 30 days, so that magical beings - easily amused, if not impressed by feats of fine craftsmanship - can bestow their blessings upon them. 

After Poppy initially declined the Demacian General Florin's generous offer (to the amazement of many), she returned to her home in Bandle City, and for thirty days did not leave the house except to tend the garden, or even so much as look a neighbor in the eye.

However, on the night of the 30th day she caught sight of something odd. She saw it flutter past the glass of the sealed window once, twice, three times; a dazzling wisp of purple light on a mission. The seemingly sentient spark of light lead Poppy deep into the woods, further than she had ever dared to venture before and even further still, until it disappeared, only to be replaced by another guiding light.

For there was set atop a lone tree stump at the center of a small clearing a glowing, golden hammer. Upon closer inspection, Poppy saw that it bore the marks of her father's hands, forged in such secret, it would seem, that it had been created without even her knowledge to serve whatever unknown end. Whether the bizarre light intended to lead Poppy to find the hammer or some horrible doom, she would never discover, but it seemed to her at that moment as though fate had intervened during her dire time of need.

"Surely with these he could have..." she started to say, but as she gripped the hammer's handle she could immediately feel what set this weapon apart from others. There was a warmth like blood underneath skin, as if it possessed a life of its own. By its glow she was able to make it home before dawn and, with the almost forgotten masterpiece in hand, and a new resolve to crush those who would wantonly prey on the innocent, she took the long trip back to General Florin that day - this time, alone - where she was granted the position of official yordle ambassador to Demacia.    

003: The Iron Ambassador's Kit:

Passive: Enhanced Armor - Poppy personally modifies her armor with the finest materials, allowing her to withstand more powerful attacks in battle. All physical and magic damage dealt to Poppy that exceeds 10% of her current health is reduced by 50%, except for true damage and damage from structures. This effect can occur up to five times before the summoner must pay 100g at the shop for each missing point of 'durability' to have the armor repaired. Note that a partial repair is not possible -- all of the missing durability will have to be repaired at once. Perhaps a glow effect on Poppy's armor is more visible according to the amount of points she has left on her passive, and entirely gone when there are no points left. This way the enemy team can know when she is most vulnerable before going as they say 'balls deep'.

Q Skill: Devastating Blow

MANA COST: 50  COOLDOWN: 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4

Poppy's Devastating Blow now be used to target a single enemy or a group. If the summoner targets the bare ground (by clicking Q twice in succession), after a 1 second channel Poppy slams her hammer unto the ground, causing a tremor that deals magic damage to surrounding enemies, applying a slow effect, knock up, and greater damage if the target is within melee range of Poppy at the time the skill is cast. If used to attack a single monster, minion, or champion, it instead deals physical damage equal to 100% AD + additional magic damage + a percentage of the target's maximum health. If the target is killed by the attack, it also triggers the AOE splash/slow effect.

Single-target cast: BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (+ 5% of target's maximum health) MAXIMUM DAMAGE: 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 / 375 (+ 100% AD) (+ 60% AP).

AOE cast: MIN MAGIC DAMAGE: 35 / 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 (+ 20% AP) MAX MAGIC DAMAGE: 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+ 40% AP) (+ 20% AD)

NOTES:

• The AOE effect makes farming during her early laning phase less of a struggle, and gives her precious CC to use during team fights. The 'brief delay' before the AOE attack is Poppy gripping the hammer tightly before pounding it into the ground, which causes a geyser of magical light to rise from the ground in a circle around her, which then fades into tiny ripples that hit farther away targets. During the delay before the skill casts she can be interrupted by CC effects, in which case the skill's mana cost and half of the cooldown is refunded.

• Early CSing as Poppy should be at least a little easier now, to make that early lane phase a little less miserable and (I hope) justify lowering the damage of her Q when used against single targets. 

W Skill: Paragon of Demacia 

MANA COST: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 COOLDOWN: 12

PASSIVE: Upon receiving damage from or dealing damage with a basic attack, Poppy's armor and damage are increased for 5 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.Active: Poppy gains maximum stacks of Paragon of Demacia and increased movement speed for five seconds.

ARMOR & ATTACK DAMAGE PER STACK: 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 MAX ARMOR & ATTACK DAMAGE: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35

MOVEMENT SPEED: 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25%

NOTES:

• I think this skill can remain the same as before. It's an excellent tool for engaging because the movement speed allows her to get into the thick of things quickly, and the increase in defense helps her in staying into the middle of an enemy team to pull off a full powered Q with knock up, or butt some fools together with her E, as you will soon see. The added AD also makes whatever skills you can pull off within those 5 seconds hit a little harder! It goes well with my tank Poppy philosophy as stated above.

E Skill: Heroic Charge

MANA COST: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 COOLDOWN: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6

Poppy charges at an enemy, dealing physical damage and carrying it 300 units along with her. If they collide with terrain, she stuns her target for 1.5 seconds, dealing additional magic damage. Otherwise, they are stunned for 0.5 seconds. If instead the target collides with another enemy unit of a similar type (champions, minions, monsters), both targets are stunned for 1 second and only the second target takes additional magic damage.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+ 20% AD) COLLISION MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+ 40% AP) TOTAL DAMAGE: 125 / 200 / 275 / 350 / 425 (+ 40% AP) (+ 20% AD)

R (Ultimate) Skill: Diplomatic Immunity

MANA COST: 100 COOLDOWN: 120/100/80

ACTIVE: Poppy targets a single enemy champion and periodically generates stacking health shields so long as the selected enemy remains alive and within a certain range of her, or before a calculated amount of time passes. In addition, Poppy deals amplified damage to the selected enemy and movement speed when moving toward them during the skill's duration. Any amount of shield that remains after the skill's duration will persists for up to five minutes or until it is depleted by enemy attacks.

DURATION: 5 + (number of enemy champions visible within effect range when cast) secs SHIELD PER SECOND: 50 (+20% AP) MAX SHIELD STRENGTH: 250/500/750  INCREASED DAMAGE: 25%

NOTES:

• For the duration of the ultimate and so long as the targeted champion remains alive, Poppy will continually generate health shields passively unless they manage to move out of her ult's effect's range. Of course the movement speed boost makes it appropriately more difficult for them to do so, which means it is up to the targeted enemy's teammates to step in and provide enough peel to hamper Poppy's effectiveness as both a tank and a damage dealer. With this she can go toe to toe with and smash other tanks in a duel (dealing amplified nudge nudge reduced HP based damage with her Q), go straight for the ADC in the back, ult the support because they are less likely to be targeted and killed than other members thus shortening the duration of her ultimate -- there are so many different ways in which you can use this skill strategically!

• Makes Poppy more annoying to take down in a team fight without going so far as giving her perfect invulnerability in a way that enemy teams can counter by smartly adapting their engage strategy, or simply finding a way to eliminate high priority targets on Poppy's team without getting too bogged down by her in-your-face group disruption antics. It allows the enemy team more options for counter play than her old ultimate, and less cheesy solo tower dive kills without making them altogether impossible.

004: New Visuals Ideas: I'm no artist so I can't SHOW you anything, but I'd like to see her more resemble Trist and the guys in terms of like fur and ears and big eyes while still maintaining her very serious, stoic nature. I imagine those ram horns on the Scarlet Hammer skin could easily be translated into Yordle EAR-guards, couldn't they? And that skin's armor makes her kind of resemble a wrecking ball which I think would perfectly suit her play style...

005: Final Words: If you're a fan of as she is and actually read this far in, I would especially like to see what you think but really, if you can envision yourself fighting against a Poppy that has these attributes and you find it overly frustrating or otherwise hopelessly underwhelming, or dare I suggest 'fairly balanced', I would very much like to hear about it! <3