Pokémon Palossand

[KabutopsPwnsAll]

Palossand
Sand Castle Pokémon

Pokedex Number: 770
Type(s) - Ghost/Ground
Base Stats - 85 HP / 75 Atk / 110 Def / 100 SpA / 75 SpD / 35 Spe

Ability(s):
Water Compaction: Increases Defense by 2 stages every time it is hit by a Water-type move
Hidden Ability:
Sand Veil: Raises the Pokémon’s evasion during a sandstorm by one level.

Level Up Moves:
Lv0-Harden
Lv0-Absorb
Lv0-Astonish
Lv0-Sand Attack
Lv14-Sand Tomb
Lv18-Mega Drain
Lv23-Bulldoze
Lv27-Hypnosis
Lv32-Iron Defense
Lv36-Giga Drain
Lv41-Shadow Ball
Lv47-Earth Power
Lv54-Shore Up
Lv60-Sandstorm

TM Moves:
TM06-Toxic
TM10-Hidden Power
TM17-Protect
TM21-Frustration
TM26-Earthquake
TM27-Return
TM29-Psychic
TM30-Shadow Ball
TM32-Double Team
TM36-Sludge Bomb
TM37-Sandstorm
TM39-Rock Tomb
TM42-Facade
TM44-Rest
TM45-Attract
TM48-Round
TM53-Energy Ball
TM56-Fling
TM60-Quash
TM63-Embargo
TM68-Giga Impact
TM69-Rock Polish
TM71-Stone Edge
TM78-Bulldoze
TM80-Rock Slide
TM83-Infestation
TM87-Swagger
TM88-Sleep Talk
TM90-Substitute
TM100-Confide

Egg Moves:
Amnesia
Destiny Bond
Ancient Power
Stockpile
Swallow
Spit Up

Overview:
Palossand is an odd Pokemon. With a unique ability that encourages you to be hit by water moves as well as a signature move that heals up to half your max HP, and heals fully in sand, Palossand has potential for some interesting defensive sets. With 85/110/75 defenses, it can survive quite a bit thanks to it's good selection of defensive moves. The fact that it's a ground type that gets access to a number of grass moves just makes it even more odd.

Potential Sets:

Defensive Attacker
Palossand@Weakness Policy
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpAtk
Bold Nature
-Amnesia/Stockpile
-Shore Up
-Earth Power/Giga Drain
-Shadow Ball

Set Description:
With an Amnesia boost, Palossand can survive nearly all supereffective hits. With a number of common weaknesses, it shouldn't be hard to activate Weakness Policy. +2 to offenses should allow Palossand to do solid damage while soaking up hits itself, pun unintended. With the given EV spread, Palossand has a 66% chance of surviving a Choice Banded Waterfall from an Adamant Huge Power Azumarril, and thanks to Water Compaction, it will only need to survive one to tank the rest. With it's defense already solid, Amnesia is the best option to safeguard against special moves that will tear Palossand apart unboosted, but Stockpile is another option if physical attackers are a big concern. Shore Up is a must for keeping Palossand alive, and Earth Power + Shadow Ball provide some good coverage and STAB. Alternatively, Giga Drain can be used in place of Earth Power to do major damage to water types and keep you healthy at the same time.

Mixed Wall
Palossand@Leftovers
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
Bold Nature
-Amnesia/Stockpile/Protect
-Shore Up
-Earth Power
-Toxic

Set Description:
Similar to the previous set, this one is more defensively focused. Toxic is your main method of inflicting damage here. Once again, Amnesia/Stockpile and Shore Up are important, though Protect can be used in place of boosting moves to buy more time for poison to take effect. Earth Power is ideal for hitting Steel and Poison types that are immune to Toxic and is easily your best offensive move.


Other Options:
-Earthquake is your best choice if you want to run a physical Palossand.
-Stone Edge and Rock Slide are good options for running a mixed or physical attacking set, as they pair nicely with Earthquake.
-Hypnosis is an inaccurate sleep move that can be good if you want to play the chance game.
-Rock Polish can be used for a sweeping set, but Palossand is so slow already it won't outspeed everything even at +2.
-Iron Defense can boost your defense to amazing levels, but without Amnesia you're very open to special attacks.

Personal Opinion:
Palossand is easily one of my favorite Pokemon of Gen 7, and it's stats and movepool certainly aren't bad. I don't see it being much of a contender in OU, but I think it'll make a good splash in UU. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Note: I haven't actually been on here in ages, so if my post is missing something important, just say the word and I'll bring it up to scratch. I'll likely be playing around with this guy for a while so if I come up with new set ideas I'll be sure to edit the post.

 

[Green]

i can imagine this guy going ham in trick room

potentially could see him being good in doubles or something

 

[zCheshrye]

Palossand @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 80 HP / 140 Def / 252 SpA / 32 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Earth Power
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Brought in a nice AV palossand set I think will do some good on it. I ran AV on it because this thing has poor spdef and it will eat some hits with av.I ran Earth power cause it seems nice with it, also shadow ball is the strongest shadow type on it and giga drain a nice to get back some hp and able to hit water types. Hp ice used for a filler move.

 

[Bombkirby]

Palossand @ Passho berry
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 2 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Def
Nature: Modest
- Shore Up
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power

I've been running this guy with decent success. He often gets paired against Glisopod and Azumaril, survives a hit easily thanks to the defense EVs/berry, and then heals up with Shore Up making it impossible to KO him the next turn. The special threats have to be taken care of before it does much of anything though as he's only good at tanking physical hits. He's a good switch in to Tapu since he takes no damage from U-Turn/Volt Switch, and OHKOs Koko if he tries to stay in. Araquanid is an interesting matchup though since he doesn't have an easy way to kill the guy due to it's high SpD, unless you go physical, but he can rack up defense boosts if you time your Shore Up correctly.

A good partner in the future for him would be Tyranitar since he covers up Tyranitar's fighting weakness and enjoys the Sandstorm to boost his healing.

 

[KabutopsPwnsAll]

Palossand @ Passho berry
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 2 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Def
Nature: Modest
- Shore Up
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power

I've been running this guy with decent success. He often gets paired against Glisopod and Azumaril, survives a hit easily thanks to the defense EVs/berry, and then heals up with Shore Up making it impossible to KO him the next turn. The special threats have to be taken care of before it does much of anything though as he's only good at tanking physical hits. He's a good switch in to Tapu since he takes no damage from U-Turn/Volt Switch, and OHKOs Koko if he tries to stay in. Araquanid is an interesting matchup though since he doesn't have an easy way to kill the guy due to it's high SpD, unless you go physical, but he can rack up defense boosts if you time your Shore Up correctly.

A good partner in the future for him would be Tyranitar since he covers up Tyranitar's fighting weakness and enjoys the Sandstorm to boost his healing.

An interesting set, the Passho berry pretty much guarantees you can survive a water attack to boost your defense and tank. I'm not sure if it'd be that useful outside of switch-ins though, since Palossand can already tank at least one physical water attack, and even fully invested it cannot OHKO dangerous special-oriented water types like Keldeo and Starmie. Might be good late-game where things have already been worn down though.

The Araquanid matchup seems hazy as without any defense investment, Palossand cannot switch into a max attack Liquidation from Araquanid even with a Passho berry, since Araquanid will outspeed and 2HKO. Although I can't say if many people actually use max attack Araquanid, I haven't done enough testing for an accurate idea. Either way though it'll turn into a stall war, and the weakness policy set will allow it to 3HKO Araquanid at +2. Point to WP set I believe.

Overall this set feels a lot more situational but doesn't require setup to survive a hit. Only reason I can see to use this is the ability to survive special water attacks on turn one, and in doing so sacrifice a lot of potential power. Longevity isn't as good so you'll have to play it more carefully but you won't have to lose a turn setting up either so it could turn out good for all I know.

 

[Bombkirby]

An interesting set, the Passho berry pretty much guarantees you can survive a water attack to boost your defense and tank. I'm not sure if it'd be that useful outside of switch-ins though, since Palossand can already tank at least one physical water attack, and even fully invested it cannot OHKO dangerous special-oriented water types like Keldeo and Starmie. Might be good late-game where things have already been worn down though.

The Araquanid matchup seems hazy as without any defense investment, Palossand cannot switch into a max attack Liquidation from Araquanid even with a Passho berry, since Araquanid will outspeed and 2HKO. Although I can't say if many people actually use max attack Araquanid, I haven't done enough testing for an accurate idea. Either way though it'll turn into a stall war, and the weakness policy set will allow it to 3HKO Araquanid at +2. Point to WP set I believe.

Overall this set feels a lot more situational but doesn't require setup to survive a hit. Only reason I can see to use this is the ability to survive special water attacks on turn one, and in doing so sacrifice a lot of potential power. Longevity isn't as good so you'll have to play it more carefully but you won't have to lose a turn setting up either so it could turn out good for all I know.

Against Araquanid I never switch in, I just send him out to "revenge kill" sometimes. Then just press "Shore Up" and then you'll recover all your lost HP after his Liquidation, and proceed to take less damage from him each turn. Though it's not an ideal situation since his typing prevents you from being able to kill him unless you go physical and use Stone Edge. But 75 base attack is not that great. The other common physical waters like Azumarill/Golisopod are easier to make on, with both being 2HKOs usually.

All in all, it's extremely prediction based. One wrong "Shore up" and the enemy will just set up on you instead (belly drum Azu) Guess right and Azu dies to Giga Drain though.

 

[Zentrius]

water compaction shouldve been a defensive water type version of lightning rod tbh

its offensive stats are way too low to be used as a tr sweeper, even though it has great coverage.

this thing is really bland overall. its stats are acceptable and it has an interesting movepool with unusual coverage, but theres simply better choices to use over this.

 

[Bombkirby]

water compaction shouldve been a defensive water type version of lightning rod tbh

its offensive stats are way too low to be used as a tr sweeper, even though it has great coverage.

this thing is really bland overall. its stats are acceptable and it has an interesting movepool with unusual coverage, but theres simply better choices to use over this.

Except tiers are and, always have been a thing. "Better choices" aren't even an option when they're banned to higher tiers.

I primarily did UU/RU in Gen 6, and obviously this guy isn't going to be "top tier". So assuming he'll be low/mid-tier, this guy's only competition is like Golurk, who doesn't have the tankiness or sustain that Palossand has. Gigalith (who just got Sandstream) and Palossand should in theory be a decent addition to lower tier Sandstorm teams.

Currently (like any start of a new gen) it's kind of a mess with Uber, OU mons being paired against all of these obviously/highly-likely future-low tier new mons though, so I'm building the guy so that he can survive those common threats like Azumarill and etc. But in the future that most likely will not be the case, and he can be built differently with a different spread/items.

 

[SpencerSnowflake]

In my experiences using Palossand, it makes for an excellent switch-in on the common electric types and occasional Marowak that come in.


Palossand @ Groundium Z
Ability: Water Compaction
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 128 Def / 100 SpA / 180 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Shore Up

This is the Palossand that I've been running. With this EV spread, it can live a max SpA Terrain boosted Psychic from Tapu Lele and is able to OHKO choice scarf Xurkitree with no investments in SpD. The Groundium Z is excellent if they have nothing they can switch into to absorb the blow, and Tapu Koko and other electric type supports don't handle it very well. The shadow ball provides good STAB coverage and helps deal with Gengar (which only has a 30% chance to OHKO when Modest, and falls to a shadow ball from Palo). The only issues I've observed so far that really keep Palossand at a sandstill are flying types that resist shadow ball, like Celesteela (which I personally mitigate with Salazzle).

 

[zferolie]

So I am going for a shiny Palossand(That Volcanic Sandcastle looks great. Just want to make sure, before I start breeding for one, that I should be running Bold or modest on it? I am thinking bold is good with the set listed in the OP

Palossand@Weakness Policy
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpAtk
Bold Nature
-Amnesia
-Shore Up
-Earth Power
-Shadow Ball

I will have it teamed with a Toxapex with surf, and if I make sure toxapex is slower, I can make sure Amnesia goes first so that Surf tickles it, activating both water compaction and Weakness Policy.

 

[Bombkirby]

So I am going for a shiny Palossand(That Volcanic Sandcastle looks great. Just want to make sure, before I start breeding for one, that I should be running Bold or modest on it? I am thinking bold is good with the set listed in the OP

Palossand@Weakness Policy
Ability: Water Compaction
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpAtk
Bold Nature
-Amnesia
-Shore Up
-Earth Power
-Shadow Ball

I will have it teamed with a Toxapex with surf, and if I make sure toxapex is slower, I can make sure Amnesia goes first so that Surf tickles it, activating both water compaction and Weakness Policy.

It's still really slow though. It'll be hitting like a truck but in doubles it's really easy to gang up and kill a boosted target, especially if they aren't fast enough to stop their assailants.

 

[cheshirecat1917]

It's still really slow though. It'll be hitting like a truck but in doubles it's really easy to gang up and kill a boosted target, especially if they aren't fast enough to stop their assailants.

That's what Trick Room is for. Not to mention Trick Room would possibly let you run a monster Pyukumuku or Vikavolt, given their low speed stats. And Type: Null to boot.

 

[Pyukumu-kukuku]

That's what Trick Room is for. Not to mention Trick Room would possibly let you run a monster Pyukumuku or Vikavolt, given their low speed stats. And Type: Null to boot.

Do you mean Wishiwashi? I can't see the super passive pyukumuku getting many advantages from outspeeding.

 

[cheshirecat1917]

Do you mean Wishiwashi? I can't see the super passive pyukumuku getting many advantages from outspeeding.

... yeah that's what I meant. Thanks for the catch.

Though I still wish Pyukumuku could go ham.

 

[UnkarsThug]

Would water compaction trigger if you use luminous moss? I don't have a set in mind, but the sp. def. bonus and water immunity might be nice.

 

[UnkarsThug]

Would water compaction trigger if you use luminous moss? I don't have a set in mind, but the sp. def. bonus and water immunity might be nice.

And, yes, I do know that's only for the first water type move.

 

[Bombkirby]

That's what Trick Room is for. Not to mention Trick Room would possibly let you run a monster Pyukumuku or Vikavolt, given their low speed stats. And Type: Null to boot.

I quoting someone's doubles team. They mentioned no trick room. Read their post for context.

 

[KabutopsPwnsAll]

Would water compaction trigger if you use luminous moss? I don't have a set in mind, but the sp. def. bonus and water immunity might be nice.

Yes, it would. I don't think it's really viable though, one stage of sp. def alone isn't going to let you tank special hits that well and it's way more situational than Weakness Policy.
Moss requires the incoming attack to be water, while Weakness Policy will activate with any supereffective move. +2 offenses is important since 100 base sp. atk uninvested isn't anything to write home about. I'd just use Amnesia if you want to survive special moves.

 

[MacAulay]

How about running this alongside a surf mon? With an item such as Luminous moss or weakness policy. Or you could have an ally use water shuriken, similarly to Beat up on a justified terrakion...

 

[A]

you guys are slacking on passho berry, it's the way of life man.

 

[UnkarsThug]

you guys are slacking on passho berry, it's the way of life man.

Because luminous moss does the same thing, but makes you immune to water for that first hit AND raises your sp. Def.

 

[yogi]

Because luminous moss does the same thing, but makes you immune to water for that first hit AND raises your sp. Def.

It doesn't make you immune to water. I've just tested it in case you want proof.

 

[UnkarsThug]

It doesn't make you immune to water. I've just tested it in case you want proof.

At one point I thought it did, but i think the last time I used it was gen IV, so I'm probably wrong.

 

[UnkarsThug]

At one point I thought it did, but i think the last time I used it was gen IV, so I'm probably wrong.

Actually, it didn't exist in Gen IV, So maybe i'm thinking of something else.
(There are too many games to keep up with)

 

[Pyukumu-kukuku]

Actually, it didn't exist in Gen IV, So maybe i'm thinking of something else.
(There are too many games to keep up with)

I had thought there had been an item that absorbed a water attack and raised a stat as well but I wasn't able to find it. If one of these did that it might have been in 5th gen but got changed later. I'd need confirmation though as I can't find any evidence of it anywhere.