Salamance Viable Use

It has a mega evolution for what it's worth, so a maxed out Sally might hold some future value (if we do get megas), whereas a maxed out dragonite will stay as it is.

IIRC, Salamence had more utility than Dragonite in the games as well but as it stands right now they're right about even.

Compared to Dragonite, Salamence trades bulk for offensive presence, and it’s stuck with Draco Meteor. Because of this, Salamence suffers from some consistency issues. In ideal scenarios, it marginally outperforms all variants of Dragonite in DPS, but faints more quickly because of its lower bulk. If you’re satisfied with Dragonite, then consider passing on investing in Salamence. It's a fine stardust sink if you have the resources to spare, and it's more than just novelty like Flygon is.

So feel free to power up a Salamence if you have the resources, but if stardust is limited, go with Dragonite.

As a Flying-type attacker (for instance, for Machamp raids).

Salamence reaches DT breakpoints at lower levels and in some matchups even DT breakpoints that Dragonite doesn't reach at all. Its frailty kills it too fast against Rayquaza, but against Latias and Latios it's on average faster than Dragonite. The difference is quite small and I would not go out of my way to get Salamences for the attacking squad.

Has much higher attack. God can't they remove the holy damned fire blast?