Steelix
Type Tier
Steel / Ground OU
Statistics
Stat
HP
75
 353
Atk
85
 268
Def
200
 498
SpA
55
 208
SpD
65
 228
Spe
30
 158
Name Item

Physical Wall

 Leftovers
Moveset
~ Earthquake
~ Roar
~ Curse
~ Rock Slide

Switch into a Toxic, Thunder Wave, or any of the attacks it's resistant to, Curse up, and Roar anything that tries to Roar you out. After a Curse, your Roar will go after anyone else's, so you cannot be phazed out.

Other Options

Screech can act like two Attack boosts, which can make the opponent either switch out or eat an attack when their Defense is cut in half. The rest are other attacks you might think of using. Double-Edge and Body Slam will hit Grass-types and Heracross better than Rock Slide, but you're screwed against Skarmory. Explosion, as always, is an excellent move, but I'd only recommend it if you have Spikes or are completely certain you can take down a Flying-type. I've tried Iron Tail to see what it's like and it's not half bad, but its 75% accuracy and the various resistances of Steel attacks make it iffy.

Opinion

For a gigantic snake made of twisted metal, its Attack is awfully average. However, Steelix is a great physical wall and can take any Return or Rock Slide with no problem. It's immune to both Poison moves and Thunder Wave which is an extreme plus. While the Fire, Ground, and Water weaknesses are pretty obvious, it's got a load of resistances that make up for it. If you can get the opponent's Water-type out of the way, Steelix is usually very good after a few Curses, just beware of completely random things that have Fire Blast.

Counters

Steelix isn't Rhydon, whose high Attack hurts switch ins, so Suicune, Slowbro and Cloyster all can switch in on Earthquake and 2HKO with Surf. Starmie isn't as defensively oriented, but safely switches in, while taking at most 38% (easily Recover-able) and 2HKOing with Surf. Be wary of Explosions, as even Suicune takes between 72% and 85% from a non-Cursed Explosion.

Exeggutor gets a nifty resistance to Earthquake, and Steelix doesn't get STAB on Rock Slide, so it can use Giga Drain safely. However, it won't be killing Steelix as quickly, thus putting it in danger of Explosion.

A Defense score of 498 is godly, but Steelix has sub-par HP. As a result, some Physical Pokemon put a dent in the Iron Snake, namely Marowak (Marowak does 64% with Earthquake without a Swords Dance) and Machamp (45% with Cross Chop).