Pallosand is an interesting pokemon, though it is ultimately held back by its mediocre stat distribution, and typing that doesn't lend itself to true tankiness. Plus, that ability! While it still does have use with a weakness policy or passho berry, it would be so much better if it boosted your sp. defense, then you could invest in your better defense or HP and become a relatively effective mixed wall. As well, it being a special attacker, while unique, I certainly wouldn't have guessed. I guess sandcastles aren't especially physical, but still, a bit odd. I do think it's more of a lower tier pokemon, in singles at least. Perhaps RU or UU, where it won't have to worry about the really heavy hitters. It'll also be good on sandstorm or trick room teams, most likely. It has the tools to succeed, for sure. I rather liked the passho berry set posted before, so I wanted to do my own tweak on that set. Weakness Policy is definitely an option too.
Palossand @ Passho Berry
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Sp Def
Nature: Modest/Relaxed/Sassy
- Shore Up
- Stockpile/Amnesia/Iron Defense
- Shadow Ball/Giga Drain/HP Ice
- Earth Power/Giga Drain/HP Ice
Now with this set you do sacrifice coverage, since the Shore Up is a must, but I feel the passho berry synches well with boosting your defenses. So you come in on preferably a physical water type, take the hit, berry activates then your defense is boosted by two. Depending on how health you have, you can either Shore Up, or try to either stockpile, amnesia, or Iron Defense, depending on what move you picked. I like stockpile for the overall boost to your defenses it gives up. +3 Defense and 1+ Sp. defense is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you have the shore up. And that's what the primary EV spread is for. For the other Passho Berry set, it had max defense investment, which seemed a bit like overkill since you're going to already be getting +2 defense anyway from the water type hit, and so it seemed better to put it into the HP to give yourself the best all around bulk.
Now if you choose to run amnesia, then you can invest in Defense, and vice versa if you choose to run iron defense. Amnesia is definitely an option because then you've got +2 to both defenses which can make you really tough to take out with shore up. Depending on which of those you two you run can also determine your nature. Because let's be real. 100 Sp. Attack isn't that great, even fully invested with a modest nature. So if you want to run this as more just a wall with some offensive presence, then you can invest fully in HP, and either defense, depending on what you are wanting to counter and then go with the opposite defense nature so that you are still getting a little boost to the uninvested defense you are using. Now again, there are better walls out there with better typings and stats, but in a lower tier, it can work, I feel with shore up and the use of the water compaction ability.
Shadow Ball and Earth Power are the obligatory STAB here and can do you pretty well, but you are totally walled by Normal/Flying types, so I just wanted to show other options. Giga Drain is nice, I think, even though you won't be doing a ton of damage unboosted non-stab just because it works with shore up and your defense boosting to make you really hard to wear down. HP Ice is just there for more coverage. Ground/Ice is pretty solid overall, though it would be more for the 4x super effective weak mons out there.
Just as another option, I wanted to do some kind of sandstorm set since Shore Up obviously works well with it. You probably would be better just using Tyranitar or Hippowdon and the above set, but if you were making a dedicated sand team and needed another pokemon that can set it, then Palossand works.
Palossand @ Smooth Rock/Leftovers
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA or 252 SpA / 252 Sp.Def or 4 Sp.Def
Nature: Relaxed/Sassy/Modest
- Shore Up
- Shadow Ball/Giga Drain/HP Ice
- Sandstorm
- Earth Power/Giga Drain/HP Ice
Ultimately not too different from the above set, just using sandstorm in place of the defense boosting move. If only it were part rock, then it would be quite useful in getting the sp. def boost from sandstorm, but we work with what we are given. I think a tankier set is better here because with shore up, you will heal up to full in the sand. When you combine that with leftovers recovery along with the potential giga drain, you will find yourself with a lot of recovery that can serve you well, which is why I have it as the default spread, but if you want to be more offensive, then go right ahead. The choice of item just depends on what you are looking for. Smooth Rock maximizes the full heal of shoreup, but leftovers is more of a longevity-based game, but it depends on what you need.
The other moves are the same, defaulting to your dual STAB, but like I said, giga drain is an option, and then you have HP Ice as potential coverage. Other than that, it's not too different from the above set.
The other set I was considering was a SubToxic set, that again, works best in sand, but it could see some potential as a niche/gimmick set potentially for Pallosand.
Palossand @ Leftovers/Passho Berry
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp.Defense / 4 Def
Nature: Relaxed/Sassy
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Shore Up
- Earth Power/Destiny Bond/Shadow Ball/Protect/Hypnosis/Infestation
I think this could definitely be an annoyance type set with the SubToxic combo along with the use of shore up and either leftovers for sustained healing or Passho Berry to make the best of the water compaction will turn Palossand into a physical wall. The EV Spread and nature is to make the most of your bulk, again, ideally focusing on Special Defense, though you can certainly mix and match, but I feel like the +2 boost will already do the job of helping you take those physical sets. The last move is really a crapshoot, that's up to you. Earth Power is just to keep you from being taunt bait. DB can be just another form of annoyance and trickiness though you are very passive obviously. Shadow Ball is another stab option, while Protect is good for scouting and racking up toxic damage and ensuring your leftovers, if you're using it. Hypnosis is very niche, but at least you can do something to steel and poison types if you aren't running the earth power. Infestation is an option for trapping and toxicing like another set made use of. Sand Tomb does the same thing, and is stronger and STAB, but it is physical. Then again, it's not like you're running it for the sake of the power. But it's an option worth considering for sure.
Overall, I wish Pallosand was tankier or harder hitting. 100 Sp. Attack isn't that great, especially with no way of boosting it. Calm Mind could be an interesting choice, if it got it, but it doesn't, so eh. 110 Defense isn't bad at all, but if it had just 10 more to HP, and 10 more to Sp. Defense, I'd feel better about its chances of really working as a mixed wall. It still has potential with the ability of boosting said defenses with either stockpile amnesia or iron defense and Water Compaction is a tricky ability but one that can pay off. Ultimately, Pallosand seems like kind of a tricky pokemon to use, but if you know what you're doing, it can serve you well.