How to win lane as Gnar against Poppy · 49.16% win rate over 358 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Gnar | Mini's ranged autos and a single Boomerang win the first trade — Poppy is immobile apart from E and can only poke back with Q. |
| Level 2 | Gnar | Your Hyper third-hit proc plus a caught boomerang lands a free chunk and shove that her Q-poke can't answer. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | She trades evenly once she's in range — your Mini body folds to her Q-knockup if she closes, so it's a skill check on spacing. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | It swings on Rage: strong if a Mega Wallop stun or wall-combo is up, a liability if you're stuck in fragile Mini when she commits. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | With no new spell at 6, your power is purely whether Mega is up — and her W negates the Crunch leap you'd engage with. |
| First item | Even / skill | Your Mini poke keeps the lane even, but every Mega all-in still risks her W eating your Crunch and her E pinning you to a wall. |
| Two+ items | Poppy | Her E wall-pin stun and Q knockup are lethal once Mega expires, and her W bonus-armor scaling out-tanks your form-dependent burst. |
Mini form is your whole early game here — Poppy is immobile apart from her E and has no answer to ranged autos plus Boomerang Throw, so chip her with Q and last-hit at range while her passive shield does nothing to your poke. At level 2 your Hyper third-hit proc plus a caught boomerang lands a chunky free trade and lets you shove. Just don't walk into melee in Mini — her Q knockup into an auto out-trades your fragile ranged body if she gets her hands on you, and her E can pin you to a wall the moment you over-extend.
The full Gnar vs Poppy report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Poppy vs Gnar guide →
All Gnar top lane matchups →