Zapdos

Zapdos is a dominant and defining Pokemon in GSC OU. It has tremendous base 125 Special Attack and near perfect coverage between STAB Electric-type moves and Hidden Power Ice, making it an offensive force to be reckoned with. It is particularly deadly when used with Spikes support, as no Pokemon immune to Spikes can stomach hits from it for long, and even grounded foes that can withstand a beating from it, such as Raikou and Snorlax, become crippled if Zapdos's Thunder inflicts paralysis on them. Zapdos also has defensive traits that its main competition, Raikou, can only look to the sky in envy at. Its Flying typing grants it immunity to Earthquake from the tier's many Ground-types as well as useful resistances to Fighting and Bug—all without the usual accompanying weakness to Electric-type attacks. Its phenomenal typing and formidable defensive stats make it one of the best candidates for using RestTalk, which gives Zapdos excellent longevity and makes it one of the best Pokemon at taking Toxic from foes such as Skarmory, Cloyster, Suicune, and Blissey, although it should be more wary of taking paralysis when it doesn't need to. Thanks to its spectacular damage output, even the few Pokemon that can 2HKO it, such as Jynx, Tyranitar, and Marowak, can struggle to find an opportunity to advantageously trade hits with it, especially since Zapdos often finds chances to recover lost health with Rest. This excellent balance between offense and defense makes Zapdos an easy fit on many teams. However, Zapdos will often find itself having to trade hits with Snorlax, which is one of the very few Pokemon that can do so favorably. Furthermore, while it generally has the upper hand in most matchups, many common offensive Pokemon such as Cloyster, Exeggutor, and Steelix will often try to trade themselves for Zapdos with Explosion, which almost always OHKOes it.