False Swipe (move)

False Swipe みねうち Blunt Strike

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Battles Type  Normal Category  Physical PP  40 (max. 64) Power  40 Accuracy  100% Priority  {{{priority}}} Makes contact Affected by Protect Not affected by Magic Coat Not affected by Snatch Affected by King's Rock

Target Foe Foe Foe Self Ally Ally May affect anyone adjacent to the user

Availability Introduced  Generation II TM54 in Generation IV TM54 in Generation V

Contests Category  Cool Appeal  1 ♥ Jam  3 ♥♥♥ Badly startles those that have made appeals.

Super Contests Category  Cool Appeal  0   Raises the score if the Voltage is low.

False Swipe on Legendary Pokémon MoveDex False Swipe on Eevee's Movedex

False Swipe (Japanese: みねうち Blunt Strike) is a damage-dealing Normal-type move introduced in Generation II.

Effect

False Swipe inflicts damage and if False Swipe deals more damage than the target's current HP, the target will always be left with 1 HP remaining. If the target has 1 HP remaining, False Swipe will hit and leave the target at 1 HP. This move is most often used to catch wild Pokémon.

If used against a substitute, False Swipe is able to break it, and will not leave the decoy with 1 HP.

Learnset

By leveling up

#	Pokémon		Type		Level
					I		II		III		IV		V
083		Farfetch'd	Normal	Flying	44			46			43		45	45
104		Cubone	Ground		Ground	33			33			27				27
105		Marowak	Ground		Ground	39			39			27				27
123		Scyther	Bug	Flying	18			16			13				13
212		Scizor	Bug	Steel	18			16			13				13
253		Grovyle	Grass		Grass	no			53			53				53
254		Sceptile	Grass		Grass	no			59			59				59
290		Nincada	Bug	Ground	no			25			25				25
335		Zangoose	Normal		Normal	no			55			44				44
475		Gallade	Psychic	Fighting	no			no			45				50
542		Leavanny	Bug	Grass	no			no			no				--
588		Karrablast	Bug		Bug	no			no			no				25
589		Escavalier	Bug	Steel	no			no			no				25
610		Axew	Dragon		Dragon	no			no			no				24
611		Fraxure	Dragon		Dragon	no			no			no				24
612		Haxorus	Dragon		Dragon	no			no			no				24
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move.

By TM

#	Pokémon		Type		Machine
					I --		II --		III --		IV TM54		V TM54
015		Beedrill	Bug	Poison							✔				✔
021		Spearow	Normal	Flying											✔
022		Fearow	Normal	Flying											✔
046		Paras	Bug	Grass							✔				✔
047		Parasect	Bug	Grass							✔				✔
083		Farfetch'd	Normal	Flying							✔				✔
098		Krabby	Water		Water							✔				✔
099		Kingler	Water		Water							✔				✔
104		Cubone	Ground		Ground							✔				✔
105		Marowak	Ground		Ground							✔				✔
123		Scyther	Bug	Flying							✔				✔
127		Pinsir	Bug		Bug							✔				✔
151		Mew	Psychic		Psychic							✔				✔
207		Gligar	Ground	Flying							✔				✔
212		Scizor	Bug	Steel							✔				✔
214		Heracross	Bug	Fighting											✔
215		Sneasel	Dark	Ice							✔				✔
253		Grovyle	Grass		Grass							✔				✔
254		Sceptile	Grass		Grass							✔				✔
273		Seedot	Grass		Grass											✔
274		Nuzleaf	Grass	Dark											✔
275		Shiftry	Grass	Dark											✔
285		Shroomish	Grass		Grass											✔
286		Breloom	Grass	Fighting											✔
290		Nincada	Bug	Ground							✔				✔
291		Ninjask	Bug	Flying							✔				✔
292		Shedinja	Bug	Ghost							✔				✔
303		Mawile	Steel		Steel											✔
335		Zangoose	Normal		Normal							✔				✔
341		Corphish	Water		Water							✔				✔
342		Crawdaunt	Water	Dark							✔				✔
347		Anorith	Rock	Bug							✔				✔
348		Armaldo	Rock	Bug							✔				✔
359		Absol	Dark		Dark							✔				✔
402		Kricketune	Bug		Bug							✔				✔
445		Garchomp	Dragon	Ground							✔				✔
451		Skorupi	Poison	Bug							✔				✔
452		Drapion	Poison	Dark							✔				✔
461		Weavile	Dark	Ice							✔				✔
472		Gliscor	Ground	Flying							✔				✔
475		Gallade	Psychic	Fighting							✔				✔
501		Oshawott	Water		Water											✔
502		Dewott	Water		Water											✔
503		Samurott	Water		Water											✔
542		Leavanny	Bug	Grass											✔
588		Karrablast	Bug		Bug											✔
589		Escavalier	Bug	Steel											✔
610		Axew	Dragon		Dragon											✔
611		Fraxure	Dragon		Dragon											✔
612		Haxorus	Dragon		Dragon											✔
624		Pawniard	Dark	Steel											✔
625		Bisharp	Dark	Steel											✔
638		Cobalion	Steel	Fighting											✔
639		Terrakion	Rock	Fighting											✔
640		Virizion	Grass	Fighting											✔
647		Keldeo	Water	Fighting											✔
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move.

By breeding

#	Pokémon		Type		Father
					I		II		III		IV		V
021		Spearow	Normal	Flying
046		Paras	Bug	Grass							no
127		Pinsir	Bug		Bug	no						no
214		Heracross	Bug	Fighting	no
273		Seedot	Grass		Grass	no
285		Shroomish*	Grass		Grass	no
303		Mawile	Steel		Steel	no
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move.

By event

Generation II

#   Pokémon Type Obtained in 066 Machop Fighting New York City Pokémon Center Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move.

Generation IV

#   Pokémon Type Obtained in 285 Shroomish Grass My Pokémon Ranch Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move.

Generation V

#   Pokémon Type Obtained in 334 Altaria Dragon Flying Global Link Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move.

Special move

Generation III

#   Pokémon Type Obtained in 333 Swablu Normal Flying Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move. Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STAB from this move.

In the anime

	Scizor
A restrained attack that prevents the foe from fainting.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
Scizor	Scizor flies into the air then flies down toward the opponent. It raises its two pincers into the air, then brings them both down hard on the opponent.
Shingo's Blade	Wired for Battle!		Debut

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

	Scizor	Cubone
A restrained attack that prevents the foe from fainting.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Round/Chapter Used In		Notes
Scizor	Scizor holds up its claws so they look like two heads. Then, when the opponent becomes frightened, it charges and slashes the opponent with them.
Blue's Scizor	Rock, Paper... Scizor		Debut
Cubone	Cubone slashes the opponent with the bone it holds.
Crys's Bonee	Querulous Qwilfish		None

In other generations

Generation I	RBY	Generation I (Japanese)	Generation I (International)	Generation II	Generation II (Japanese)	Generation II (International)	Crystal	Generation III	Generation III (Japanese)	Generation III (International)	FRLG	Generation IV	Generation IV (Japanese)	Generation IV (International)	HGSS	Generation V	BW	Generation V (Japanese)	Generation V (International)	Stadium	Stadium 2	Colosseum	XD	Battle Revolution	Battle Revolution (Alternative animation)	Battrio	PMD: Red and Blue	PMD: Time, Darkness, Sky	Rumble	Rumble Blast

Trivia

• Its Japanese name refers to striking someone with the blunt side of a sword.
• Due to the move's effect of always leaving the target with at least 1 HP, False Swipe is the only damaging move in the video games capable of doing zero damage on a successful strike (assuming no immunities). False Swipe can do zero damage on a target with exactly 1 HP left.
• Although Swablu can know False Swipe if hatched from the egg obtained in Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire, it is incompatible with the TM introduced in Generation IV which teaches the same move.
• In Generation V, Pokémon that were capable of learning False Swipe through breeding in previous generations are now unable to do so; these Pokémon are now capable of learning False Swipe via TM directly. This is probably due to the fact that TMs in Generation V have unlimited uses.

In other languages

Language Title French Faux-Chage German Trugschlag Greek Υποκριτικός Κτύπος Italian Falsofinale Korean 칼등치기 Kaldeungchigi Serbian Lažan Zamah Spanish Falsotortazo

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.