I played a Poppy game last night and I fed early. Then again I was up against a Wukong/Heimer duo top. Meh.
In any case, I thought I would do more damage level 1/2 and I really didn't. What runes/masteries do you guys go with? The game went on forever and once I had full build it was kinda lulzy.
There are 2 basic approaches when you spec Poppy for runes and masters: 1. Get to hypercarry mode faster (damage) and 2. Get to hypercarry mode safer (tanky + sustain)
Zekent's guide is approach #2. He uses 9/21/0 masteries, flat ad reds, armor yellows, armor quints, mr/lvl blues. The idea is to gear everything to making early laning safe and easy so you can farm up a trinity force and then win. He almost always rushes philo, then tabi, then sheen-> trinity
Opened is a diamond 1 Poppy exclusive player and he is more about approach #1. He uses 15/15/0 masteries (ad/level, ap/level, 8% armor pen, 8% magic pen, and the hp regen in defense), hybrid pen reds, a mix of lifesteal and flat ad quints, armor yellows, and either attack speed or mr/lvl blues. His idea is to utilize Poppy's OP kit in the early levels to be aggressive and get an early lead. He likes starting dorans and rushing a cutlass.
In my personal experience, Zekent's approach works reliably well but if you mess up it takes a looooong time to recover and often times you lose before you can contribute meaningfully. I have been playing more like Opened and doing the 15/15/0 masteries with flad ad reds, ad and/or lifesteal quints, armor yellows, and mr/level blues and it seems to be working out fairly well.
I have been experimenting with different build paths but lately I really like how rushing a tear + tiamat feels (start faerie charm + rejuv + 2 pots). It fixes Poppy's mana problems and wave clearing problems and hp regen is exceptionally strong on her. I also want to test the new Mikel's crucible item on her because that clickie is insane when coupled with her passive. Not only that but Poppy doesn't have innate mr/level like every other melee champ so that helps alot and the mana regen could possibly replace tear of the goddess.