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Its only good stat is its defense. Mediocre HP and bad special defense means it's frail on the special end, which is bad. Being bulky on only one side rarely works out. It can't even function that well as a wall because of its lack of reliable recovery.
Its speed is also trash, which means it's taking extra hits and is all but guaranteed to never outspeed the special attackers it's so afraid of.
And it's attack is okay, but not great. Not good enough. 85 in an offensive stat with Sheer Force can work, as Nidoking proves, but Steelix doesn't have the movepool to pull it off.
What I'm saying is that Steelix is on the brink of being good. A slight buff to attack. A slight buff to spdef. A sizeable buff to speed. Some more moves that work with Sheer Force. A better ability, either for offense or defense. Just one of those things would do wonders for Steelix.