Intro:
I might be a little bit behind as I recently got back into Little Cup so I haven't seen any long term effects of webs if there have been any, but after getting reqs I thought I might as well make a post about it to help make up my mind. I used webs to get reqs, and the team was good, but I don't see how the move is banworthy, and I think the team style if anything is just really good, but not too overwhelming for the tier currently. Going off the previous post a bit, there's only 3 web setters in the tier. Of those 3, there's only 1 that's used commonly afaik, being Dewpider. So in practice, the suspect is debatably targeting 1 move on 1 strong mon and 2 not as strong mons , which I don't think is worth a ban despite the strength of the move generally being high. By itself, webs is a solid move for a team. It lets certain offensive Pokemon thrive more than on normal offense because they can abuse the speed drop, but webs as a playstyle also has its flaws in certain mu's, and I think if common Pokemon can work together to take on the overall strat, even though it's very good and can win games, it's just something to prep for since there are multiple
already viable ways to deal with it.
The Abusers:
No doubt the strength of webs lies in its abusers, and they're very solid at it. I'll just go over a few, most of the ones I used during my run with the team linked in
this post, but I'll try and touch on a few others I don't have much experience with but seem threatening.
allows for webs teams to not be as weak to defog, which is fairly massive considering it's a strategy based on an entry hazard. Getting defogged on isn't always a terrible thing if Pawniard is open to deal a lot of damage, so like with most offense teams, Pawniard fits right in as an anti removal Pokemon as well as a strong rocker / breaker.
is a good mon overall, letting teams anti-lead opposing webs which I'll get to later. It has solid coverage with edgequake and flying STAB while also having roost to ignore it's defeatist being as game ending to it. Generally hits hard and can improve its max 17 speed not outpacing faster mons with the use of webs, so overall solid.
is insanely threatening, won a lot of my games just due to moxie snowballing games and it needing just 1 dd to outspeed even scarfers aside from flying ones like Vullaby. This thing is insane, pretty hard to beat outside of fairies like spritzee that are healthy and hoping it's not carrying coverage for them. Greatly benefits from webs, but is dangerous on its own with the right support.
surprised me when using it, the utility with sturdy is very good if webs can keep rocks off, and it is a great way to chip Pokemon with volt switch or flash cannon while trading your berry juice which can be recycled later. Not a sweeper, but is solid as a pivot and with it's average speed getting buffed up it's pretty good on webs.
is very threatening with nasty plot and weak armor, with webs fixing one small weakness being it's speed tier being lower than 17's like fast mienfoo and even faster stuff like diglett, ponyta, etc. naturally without needing the weak armor boost. Not much more needs to be said, it's topping the usage stats monthly for a reason.
+
I've seen this core on webs and think it's very solid, with Grookey being strong with priority and getting even faster with webs, and woobat being a simple sweeper with grassy seed getting a speed advantage against things naturally faster like Ponyta. These are very scary when played right in the right conditions, but manageable.
Checks:
While laddering with webs, I ran into multiple ways to deal with webs as a hazard and not its abusers, so I think it's relevant to show those as well. Anti-leads are annoying, and Pokemon that can take on a lot of abusers are also hard to get through.
was probably the most annoying thing to face, as it can safely lead against Dewpider and click an attack into rapid spin to ignore the speed drop from icy wind and remove webs. Borderline requires an anti lead of your own because ghosts aren't exactly common to spinblock on webs. Hard to switch into usually as well, so just overall hard to deal with.
has rock blast, can always live hits due to sturdy or just boost its own speed with weak armor later on. If it gets more than 2 hits on a lead Dewpider webs are denied, it's overall not bad at this.
has rock blast and dual wingbeat, can take out Dewpider on lead and heavily threaten common webs abusers like vullaby with rock blast or magnemite with earthquake.
is able to wall a lot of common abusers like scraggy, vullaby, archen, etc. Paired with a steel resist, it's hard for webs teams to get sweeping with walls like this around.
EDIT:
I forgot to add in one other anti-hazard Pokemon I ran into that is also
recommended in the strategy dex when using a bulky attacking set,
+ defog. This combo is one of the few that threatens out Pawniard while having defog, and is a fairly safe way to remove webs while using defog instead of having to risk giving Pawniard a boost without being able to deal with it. It's tanky and can usually take on Magnemite as well while picking off Pokemon like Scraggy, defense dropped Vullaby, etc. and taking some hits here and there, solid to remove webs in the face of the team's anti defog measures.
Conclusion:
Overall, I think while good, sticky web is manageable. It has good abusers like normal offense, just enables a few that have the power but lack a little speed which makes it potentially more deadly. At this point in time with the experience laddering I had, I will be voting
do not ban on sticky web. The ways to deal with it are common and good Pokemon, and it just requires prep and good play like against all playstyles imo.