>>36075461Dragonite is "Usable" in Gen I's meta (which, to be fair, already puts him above a majority of Pokemon). As you've said, he can fulfill a role in spreading paralysis and chipping away via normal damage. However, Dragonite himself is useless if she's paralyzed, it dies instantly to the most common special move in the meta (Blizzard), and in practice he doesn't really do much that Tauros can't do better. He's still fairly solidly in the lower tier.
Now fast forward to Gen VII, and he has insane STAB moves, powerful priority, reliable recovery, great utility, and an ability that makes her almost impossible to one shot. Gen I Dragonite would kill to have the tools that his modern counterpart has access to. He's not at his strongest (that'd be Gen V Dragonite), but she's still just as potent as ever.
