Maokai vs Poppy Counter Pick

Damage type and terrain decide a pairing of two 125-range tanks with nearly identical bulk. Maokai takes it 55.7% of the time across 280 support games on patch 16.13.1.

• Damage type — his kit is magic, Poppy’s is physical. Her 35 armor does nothing against Bramble Smash, while his 35 armor blunts Hammer Shock and the Iron Ambassador buckler.
• Health — 665 against 610 at level one, 2,518 against 2,480 at eighteen, with Sap Magic returning health every time she casts into him.
• Terrain — Heroic Charge only stuns when it pins a target against a wall, so standing in open ground reduces Poppy’s main engage to a shove.

Poppy is the harder champion to pilot, rated 6 against Maokai’s 3, and Keeper’s Verdict is a full-screen displacement that either removes him from a fight or, mistimed, throws him to safety. She is also faster at 345 move speed against 335, which lets her choose when contact happens. Maokai answers with Nature’s Grasp, an advancing bramble wall that roots anything in its path regardless of positioning, and with a root on Twisted Advance that no shield prevents. Over 280 games the combination of more health, matched armor and unconditional crowd control is what the data rewards. Both stand at the same 125 units, so nothing about this exchange is settled at range — each dash in the pairing closes distance rather than creating it.