[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 7 onwards
**Price Range**: 2-3 points
**Overview**: Palossand's main value is to provide an answer to prevalent physical wallbreakers in the metagame. Its Ghost / Ground typing provides it some value as a cheap spinblocker and gives it useful immunities to Electric and Fighting; it also has reliable recovery and Stealth Rock to provide some sort of utility, but this is the extent of Palossand's good qualities. It fails to provide any offensive pressure due to its pitiful Speed and underwhelming offensive stats, and it can't disrupt foes very well with its lack of access to powerful tools such as Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave that could provide valuable support to a team, so it ends up becoming a momentum sink that foes can exploit easily with setup.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wall**: With its solid defenses and reliable recovery, Palossand can become hard to remove especially if it's hit by physical attacks. It can be a good switch-in to strong attacks that its offensive teammates can't take that can, in the worst case, sacrifice itself to bring them in safely as well as use its near-unresisted STAB moves and coverage to chip down foes.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Shadow Ball, Earth Power, Scorching Sands
**Setup Moves**: Iron Defense
**Utility Moves**: Stealth Rock, Shore Up
**Coverage**: Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Flash Cannon, Psychic, Sludge Bomb
Niche Moves
========
**Hypnosis**: Palossand can use Hypnosis in a pinch to try to put a foe to sleep to shift momentum back to its favor.
Common Items
========
**Rocky Helmet**: Wielding Rocky Helmet allows Palossand to deal chip damage to foes that rely on physical contact as well as punish Flip Turn and U-turn users.
**Leftovers**: With reliable entry hazard removal on its team, Leftovers provides Palossand with some more recovery alongside Shore Up to maintain its presence on the field.
Niche Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Toxic Spikes and Spikes greatly hinder Palossand's walling capabilities, so Heavy-Duty Boots allows it to bypass this issue and gives it more opportunities to switch in.
**Resistance Berries**: Colbur Berry allows Palossand to take attacks such as Knock Off more reliably, especially in a metagame where Dark-types are prevalent.
**Red Card**: Red Card can provide Palossand a one-time option to phaze a dangerous foe and put them in a disadvantageous position.
**Mental Herb**: Palossand's low Speed makes it vulnerable to disruption moves such as Taunt and Encore. Mental Herb can allow it to bypass this issue, guaranteeing it an opportunity to set up Stealth Rock.
**Eject Button**: Eject Button gives Palossand a one-time pivot to a teammate to keep up momentum. This also has the positive effect of reducing damage from future Knock Off attacks.
Tera
========
Palossand doesn't benefit too much from Terastallization, as its base typing is already sufficient to fulfill its role as a tank and spinblocker. If it is made into a Tera Captain, Tera Dragon flips its Water- and Grass-type weaknesses into resistances, while Tera Poison and Steel can make it immune to Poison, further bolstering its defensive capabilities.
Draft Strategy
========
Palossand can find its way onto a team if a draft lacks a sufficient teammate to take on the many strong physical attackers in the metagame, as well as providing one more option for entry hazard setting. It's generally good at this one role and can occasionally see use if it has the right teammates to support it.
**Entry Hazard Setters**: Palossand's Ghost typing is greatly appreciated by Pokemon such as Hisuian Samurott, Deoxys-S, and Great Tusk, all of which can set up entry hazards reliably, which Palossand can prevent being removed by opposing users of Rapid Spin.
**Specially Defensive Teammates**: With its weaker Special Defense stat, Palossand enjoys having teammates to take on opposing special wallbreakers. Pokemon such as Primarina, Tinkaton, and Hatterene are good examples.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark-types**: Palossand struggles to deal with the plethora of Dark-types in the metagame such as Zarude, Darkrai, and Greninja, all of which can either KO Palossand outright or use it as setup fodder.
**Disruption**: Taunt and Encore slow down Palossand quite a bit, which can lead it to getting worn down without being able to recover. Additionally, being tricked a Choice item heavily ruins its walling capabilities.
**Special Attackers**: Pokemon such as Chi-Yu, Iron Bundle, and Kyurem can prey on Palossand's lower Special Defense and threaten it out with a potential OHKO.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/autumn.384270/
**Draft Order**: Round 7 onwards
**Price Range**: 2-3 points
**Overview**: Palossand's main value is to provide an answer to prevalent physical wallbreakers in the metagame. Its Ghost / Ground typing provides it some value as a cheap spinblocker and gives it useful immunities to Electric and Fighting; it also has reliable recovery and Stealth Rock to provide some sort of utility, but this is the extent of Palossand's good qualities. It fails to provide any offensive pressure due to its pitiful Speed and underwhelming offensive stats, and it can't disrupt foes very well with its lack of access to powerful tools such as Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave that could provide valuable support to a team, so it ends up becoming a momentum sink that foes can exploit easily with setup.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wall**: With its solid defenses and reliable recovery, Palossand can become hard to remove especially if it's hit by physical attacks. It can be a good switch-in to strong attacks that its offensive teammates can't take that can, in the worst case, sacrifice itself to bring them in safely as well as use its near-unresisted STAB moves and coverage to chip down foes.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Shadow Ball, Earth Power, Scorching Sands
**Setup Moves**: Iron Defense
**Utility Moves**: Stealth Rock, Shore Up
**Coverage**: Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Flash Cannon, Psychic, Sludge Bomb
Niche Moves
========
**Hypnosis**: Palossand can use Hypnosis in a pinch to try to put a foe to sleep to shift momentum back to its favor.
Common Items
========
**Rocky Helmet**: Wielding Rocky Helmet allows Palossand to deal chip damage to foes that rely on physical contact as well as punish Flip Turn and U-turn users.
**Leftovers**: With reliable entry hazard removal on its team, Leftovers provides Palossand with some more recovery alongside Shore Up to maintain its presence on the field.
Niche Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Toxic Spikes and Spikes greatly hinder Palossand's walling capabilities, so Heavy-Duty Boots allows it to bypass this issue and gives it more opportunities to switch in.
**Resistance Berries**: Colbur Berry allows Palossand to take attacks such as Knock Off more reliably, especially in a metagame where Dark-types are prevalent.
**Red Card**: Red Card can provide Palossand a one-time option to phaze a dangerous foe and put them in a disadvantageous position.
**Mental Herb**: Palossand's low Speed makes it vulnerable to disruption moves such as Taunt and Encore. Mental Herb can allow it to bypass this issue, guaranteeing it an opportunity to set up Stealth Rock.
**Eject Button**: Eject Button gives Palossand a one-time pivot to a teammate to keep up momentum. This also has the positive effect of reducing damage from future Knock Off attacks.
Tera
========
Palossand doesn't benefit too much from Terastallization, as its base typing is already sufficient to fulfill its role as a tank and spinblocker. If it is made into a Tera Captain, Tera Dragon flips its Water- and Grass-type weaknesses into resistances, while Tera Poison and Steel can make it immune to Poison, further bolstering its defensive capabilities.
Draft Strategy
========
Palossand can find its way onto a team if a draft lacks a sufficient teammate to take on the many strong physical attackers in the metagame, as well as providing one more option for entry hazard setting. It's generally good at this one role and can occasionally see use if it has the right teammates to support it.
**Entry Hazard Setters**: Palossand's Ghost typing is greatly appreciated by Pokemon such as Hisuian Samurott, Deoxys-S, and Great Tusk, all of which can set up entry hazards reliably, which Palossand can prevent being removed by opposing users of Rapid Spin.
**Specially Defensive Teammates**: With its weaker Special Defense stat, Palossand enjoys having teammates to take on opposing special wallbreakers. Pokemon such as Primarina, Tinkaton, and Hatterene are good examples.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark-types**: Palossand struggles to deal with the plethora of Dark-types in the metagame such as Zarude, Darkrai, and Greninja, all of which can either KO Palossand outright or use it as setup fodder.
**Disruption**: Taunt and Encore slow down Palossand quite a bit, which can lead it to getting worn down without being able to recover. Additionally, being tricked a Choice item heavily ruins its walling capabilities.
**Special Attackers**: Pokemon such as Chi-Yu, Iron Bundle, and Kyurem can prey on Palossand's lower Special Defense and threaten it out with a potential OHKO.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/autumn.384270/
Last edited:
