Dragonite

Dragonite is one of the most well-known Pokemon in RBY OU, thanks to its access to Wrap, which gives Dragonite a niche in OU as a mid-game wallbreaker and pivot as well as a late-game cleaner. As a sweeper, Dragonite wears down opposing Pokemon with Wrap then finishes them off with a strong attack, such as Hyper Beam or Blizzard. Its high attacking stats and wide movepool provide plenty of offensive power, more than making up for its lack of good STAB moves. Wrap also makes Dragonite an excellent pivot. If Dragonite uses Wrap on a Pokemon then switches out, the opposing Pokemon won't be able to attack on the turn Dragonite switches, allowing teammates such as Tauros to switch in for free. Dragonite's base 80 Speed, in combination with Wrap, allows it to shut down metagame staples such as Chansey, Snorlax, and Exeggutor. Although a good potion of the tier still outspeeds Dragonite, this can be remedied by Dragonite's two forms of speed control: Agility and Thunder Wave. Agility makes Dragonite faster than every unboosted Pokemon, allowing it to chain together Wraps until it runs out of PP or misses. Thunder Wave, on the other hand, can allow Dragonite to threaten faster Pokemon, such as Tauros, Alakazam, and Starmie, with paralysis, crippling them for the rest of the game. Dragonite is great at forcing paralysis onto foes that run away from other Thunder Wave users, since they might stay in and attack Dragonite in fear of Agility. Dragonite is not frail either; even with a 4x weakness to Ice, it survives Tauros's Blizzard, even having the chance to survive it after taking Body Slam. Dragonite also has a 61.5% chance to survive Starmie's Blizzard. Dragonite's typing also gives it a nice immunity to Ground, letting it switch into Rhydon and scaring it with Blizzard.

Despite these positive traits, Dragonite is held back by a mediocre typing and inconsistency. Dragonite's typing makes it 4x weak to Ice-type moves, which are everywhere in OU. Dragonite is also deathly afraid of paralysis, since it prevents Dragonite from outspeeding naturally slower Pokemon while also decreasing Wrap’s already mediocre accuracy. This forces Dragonite to run away from Body Slam, a move that it would otherwise be able to take thanks to its high bulk. These traits mean Dragonite has a lot of trouble getting on the field, let alone trying to find a free turn to set up. Likewise, Wrap only has 84.4% accuracy, and a miss leaves it open to a potential Thunder Wave or Blizzard. Although Dragonite is fast relative to the OU tier, Jynx and Starmie outspeed it and OHKO it with Blizzard, though the latter is not guaranteed. Offensively, although Dragonite is strong, the lack of a STAB move means Dragonite can't use its high attacking stats to its fullest potential. Due to these flaws, Dragonite requires heavy team support in order to take advantage of the offensive traits it offers. Additionally, since Wrap is a very weak move, it is the perfect move for sleeping Pokemon such as Alakazam and Starmie to burn sleep turns on.