How to win lane as Poppy against Graves · 52.62% win rate over 1,488 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | He stacks True Grit armor and you have only Q at level 1 — neither of you wins this opener, just deny his last hits. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | With Q+E online you threaten a wall-stun, but he can hold his E dash to break the angle — it is a read war. |
| Level 3 | Graves | All your tools are up: E him into a wall for the stun and Q the fissure for max-HP chunk before his E or Flash answers. |
| Levels 4-5 | Graves | Your Q percent-HP and W dash-grounding out-trade him while his points-in-W damage scaling can't keep up with your disruption. |
| Level 6 | Graves | Keeper's Verdict charge-stops his E reposition and can knock him out of his own Smoke Screen for the kill. |
| First item | Graves | Cheap bruiser components plus W's free armor let you walk his shotgun autos and E-stun him on every cooldown. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | He out-scales with shotgun burst and stacked armor — fight him on walls and in chokes, not in an open kite, and peel instead of duel. |
Graves wants to last-hit with shotgun autos and stack True Grit armor, but you have the tools to interrupt that. Hold your E (Heroic Charge) for a moment when he has no dash up and slam him into a wall on your half of the lane for the stun, then Q the fissure for max-HP chunk. Don't blind-engage into Smoke Screen — if he drops the blind on the wall you're aiming for, your autos whiff and he kites the magazine into you. Bait his E first, then commit.
The full Poppy vs Graves 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? Graves vs Poppy guide →
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