Thoughts on it? Or even any advice on playing her now?

I was a big fan of the old Poppy, and I've yet to win a single game with the rework, so naturally I think its garbage not due to any lack of skill from myself.

And then I got to youtube and watch people make monster plays with her and I can't help but glance towards where the uninstall button should be.

 

I'll ignore the hyperbole and the notion that this might get more replies in the main League thread, and try to address the main point.

I'm not an expert at Poppy, certainly, but I've play a lot of League, and fair amount of that has included playing with, against, and even as Poppy(less often than the other two options).

The first thing to realize about the new Poppy is that she's simultaneously more useful to her team when behind than the old Poppy, but also less of an unholy terror when she's ahead than the old Poppy. Helping her team comes through the use of Q(slow and modest area damage/denial), W(dash/jump counter against numerous champions when timed well) and R(target isolation and/or disengage). Her E is slightly different, but essentially the same in primary functionality.

She simply doesn't burst like she used to, nor does she have her old passive, and that has to be accepted and factored into the playstyle. That being said, she can do quite a hefty amount of sustained damage, and her W passive(in both forms) and her actual passive can provide a notable amount of survival if played around.

She still works very well with Sheen, although my personal preference is usually Iceborn Gauntlet now to help keep enemies in the Q aoe a little easier and to scale with her W passive, along with a Black Cleaver for 40% cdr.

Honestly, I would just build her similar to Illaoi, that is tanky bruiser. Something like:
- Black Cleaver
- Iceborn/Trinity
- Maw of Malmortius
- Deadman's Plate
- Ninja Tabi/Mercury Treads (leaning towards Merc, but overall depending on enemy team comp, or maybe just lane opponent if things are that much of an island as they sometimes are in Top Lane where I've played her)

For the last item slot, perhaps:
- Death's Dance (if Trinity, for last 10 cdr and a more damage centric build)
- Warmog's (really put that passive based on max health into play, and she's fairly good at breaking out of combat with a combination of abilities to reengage the Warmog's passive)
- Titanic Hydra... maybe
- Frozen Mallet (similar reasoning to Warmog's, but more offensive than defensive)

Well, others like a Banshee's Veil, a Mercurial Scimitar, and even a Zz'Rot Portal(no damage or HP, though =/) have their circumstantial value as well.

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Anyway, I've mostly spoken in vague terms, and my own preferences. Perhaps you could give clarification on how you've actually been playing her, so more focused assistance could be provided?

 

Personally I find her to be much more suited towards the jungle role than say a top lane one. She seems fairly awkward in the solo lane role with her current skill set, and I just don't see me taking her over other tanky top laners.

I also agree with Fen that it would be incredibly rare for me to build more than 2 damage items on her. The % damage on Q means you don't really need more and her value as a hard target trumps the rest.

 

Well, that and being classed as a Tank rather than a Juggernaut means lower base damage and damage in her kit, and she scales off of hp/armor/mres tanky stats through her passive and W. That being said, like Illaoi, Cleaver and Sheen are a gimme.

Speaking of which, while she doesn't have Juggernaut tier base AD and per level, since you're getting a Sheen item anyway, and it does provide tankiness, Sterak's Gage is pretty handy on her, too. Forgot to mention it in my last post.

 

Iceborn Gauntlet seems to be my best bet next time I play her. My worst area with her atm is the laning phase. I'll have to try her jungle, I dismissed it out of hand cause of her lack of lockdown unless you get a really good E off.

I appreciate the insights, I'll be trying her again eventually.

I miss her old ult something fierce.

 

Yeah, it does seem like she's starting to be played more in the Jungle than Top at this time, actually. While she can trade well against quite a few tops, she does still struggle against mobile and/or ranged tops(unless their gimmick involves dashes, than sometimes good use of W can give you the advantage). Comparatively, she clears jungle quite well with her Q(and jungle item mana regen letting you spam it freely), and it does let her get a couple of decent items under her belt before she really gets into the thick of things.

Thanks to the tight corridors of jungle and her E, she can even do quite well against most potential invaders as long as there isn't a significant discrepancy in health levels or general strength.