Why do people say False Swipe is not useful in competitive?

Question

So every False Swipe related question I go to, the answers say it is not useful in competitive. But if it leaves your enemy with only 1 HP, won't just one more move kill the enemy, so that's only 2 moves to kill any Pokemon? I think that's the most op thing ever in competitive. Any reason why it isn't useful in competitive?

Comments

Umm, it doesn't automatically leave them with 1HP, just always does enough damage so the opponent won't faint.
And the power's only 40 :P

---

Why waste a turn weakening an opponent when you could just finish them off?

---

The asker thought that the move false swipe could alwys leave the foe with one HP

Answer 1

False Swipe doesn't automatically leave your opponent with 1 HP. This is what Bulbapedia says:

False Swipe inflicts damage, but will leave the target with 1 HP if it would otherwise cause it to faint. If the target has 1 HP remaining, False Swipe will hit and leave the target at 1 HP.

Source

It can never faint the opponent, and it's only good in-game for catching Pokemon, so it's a waste of a moveslot in competitive. It's also incredibly weak (40 base power) and doesn't affect Ghost types.

Hope I helped!

Comments

Oh ok now i understand, if your enemy has 6/20 HP and you wanna increase your rate of catching it, you use false swipe to bring it down to 1 HP, it doesnt do 19 DMG . Thanks alot, i was a little confused there

---

You're welcome. Please click the checkmark in the top right of my answer if it helped you.