Poppy vs Maokai Counter Pick

Identical 125 attack range, both melee, both built to stand in front of a carry — and Maokai simply arrives with better raw numbers. He opens at 665 health to Poppy’s 610 with 64 attack damage to her 60, finishes at 2,518 against 2,480, and holds 123.4 armour to 120 by level 18. Poppy wins 44.3% of 280 games on patch 16.13.1.

That gap widens once damage types are counted. Maokai deals magic damage, so Poppy’s armour advantage is spent on the wrong half of the chart, while her physical output runs into his 35 base armour and the 32 magic resist they both share does the defending on her side. Sap Magic heals him on a basic attack and refreshes faster whenever he casts or is struck by a spell, which makes a trade war unwinnable by attrition. Twisted Advance turns him untargetable while it dashes and roots on arrival, Bramble Smash knocks nearby enemies back and slows them, and Sapling Toss denies the brush a 125-range champion needs to approach through.

Her 345 move speed against 335 and a shield from Iron Ambassador are the margins available. A difficulty rating of 3 against 6 for Poppy means little of this depends on execution, so her opening is Heroic Charge into a wall for the stun, ideally before Maokai has Nature’s Grasp ready to cover the retreat.