Review cover ASUS ROG Claymore II Wireless Keyboard (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review

Can the Claymore II cut through the competition in the ever-crowded keyboard market?

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I'm no stranger to a nice keyboard. Regularly rotating between my favourite mechanical marvels, I find great satisfaction in trying the new and interesting, so could hardly pass up the opportunity to put the ROG Claymore II through its paces.

Now "new and interesting!?" I hear you cry. It's just another keyboard! And that's true, entirely so. It's not split, no weird ergonomics, no standout oddities at a glance. Looking down at it now as I type these very words, it's remarkably normal-looking. You have a brushed aluminium plate serving as a cool-to-the-touch base with clean black keycaps littered above it. The font is blocky, but not so garish as to lean too hard into the gamer aesthetic of years gone by. Right off the bat though, I was struck by the clarity of the lighting shining through the keycaps. The colours are remarkably vivid through the lettering on the keycaps, with very little light bleeding out from beneath the keys. It's not something that comes through as well as I'd like in pictures, but it really is quite remarkable. And it set a great tone for what was to follow. 

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This is cursed in so many ways.

 

The Claymore II does hide a few tricks, the most notable being its detachable numpad. By sliding it from its rail, you're able to transform this full-sized keyboard into a more portable tenkeyless model, which is fantastic for a wireless keyboard you may want to be taking with you. But that's not where it ends. On top of being able to remove it outright, you're able to slot it back in place not only on the right, but on the left of the keyboard. Heresy I hear you cry! I'm not going to pretend this is a revolutionary change that completely altered how I use a keyboard. It isn't. But it's not to say it doesn't have its use cases. In MMOs where you may need a significant number of skills bound to keys, you could quite easily map 8456 as your traditional WASD movement, freeing up uninterrupted rows of keys. You could also just have a complete set of macros in easy reach. It's not something I expect everybody to use, but those who do experiment will likely come to appreciate the options on offer.

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Moving onto the star of the show though, it's time to talk about ROG's RX optical switches. To cut to the chase, these are without a doubt the most satisfying switches I've used in a mechanical keyboard. At a surface level, you might see red and blue variants and simplify the switches to quiet and clicky, just like other reds and blues, but to do so would be such a disservice to the typing experience they provide. With an actuation point of 1.5mm you'll find every keypress to feel incredibly responsive if you're used to standard MX switches. For blue switches especially, they're also surprisingly quiet. You still have the click you'd expect, but that's really it. My Keychron C2 by comparison, with box white switches installed, has an accompanying thud with each keypress as the key hits the base of the keyboard. While the box whites are the closest point of comparison I have, the RX blues are a world apart. These are supported by a unique hollow square stem that holds the keycaps firmly in place. They're brilliantly stable, though this design does limit your options if you wanted to swap out the keycaps. It's also in this we see just how the lighting is so concentrated. With each light sitting completely enclosed by the square switch it shines directly up, in oppose to bursting out all sides. I love it. 

Having recently built a new PC, I decided to give Armoury Crate another go after disappointing results in my Keris review. Thankfully it does work now, and it's pretty much everything I expected it would be. Using the software, you can keep your device firmware up to date, as well as configure lighting and key values to your preference. The latter of those is particularly great if you decide to attach the numpad to the left side of the keyboard, making it an interesting and easy to reach macro pad as mentioned earlier. The software is remarkably simple to use, with a surprisingly clean aesthetic. The two issues worth mentioning here though are the lack of customisation options for the scroll wheel situated on the numpad, limiting it to volume control exclusively, and the lack of a configurable function layer. Where Roccat has its Easy Shift to give additional functionality to a standard keyboard layout, and the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard has four (it could even be more now with that having received several updates since my original review) configurable layers, the Claymore II feels notably lacking. It's not so much of a deal-breaker for me, but it is something it lacks in comparison to much of its competition.

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The detachable numpad makes it slightly bigger than the Keychron C2 I've been using recently.

Despite this being a wireless keyboard, I have to confess I've mostly been using it tethered. Being somebody stuck at the same desk with the same PC for most of the day, there's little need for me to be burdening myself with keeping on top of the battery life of wireless peripherals when they could just be connected. Having said that, I did naturally see what the keyboard had to offer in this department. Connecting to a PC with a 2.4GHz dongle, the wireless experience is no different to the wired one, at least to my eye. The keyboard packs a 4000 mAh battery with an advertised 43 hours of battery life with lighting on and the numpad connected, along with an incredibly handy battery level indicator. While it may seem like a small touch, the indicator being as clear as it is with four distinct bars is a huge positive to me. Too many wireless products resort to obscure means of telling you they need charging, or just don't altogether, leaving you with a frustrating surprise. It's great to see that isn't the case here. While not being used wirelessly, the dongle can also be stowed away in the keyboard, where it's held in place by magnets in an attempt to keep you from losing it, something else I'm quite fond of.

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All in all, the Claymore II has quickly become my favourite keyboard in terms of sheer typing experience thanks in no small part to the RX switches. At £200 it may be a hard sell for some, but with great customisation options, a detachable and moveable number pad, and great wireless support, it goes a long way in justifying itself. This is a keyboard I'm genuinely sad to be returning to Asus after the review, and is something I would consider buying myself should my current stow of keyboards simultaneously break overnight. You won't regret checking it out.

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Brilliantly defined and clear lighting
  • RX switches are incredibly responsive and satisfying
  • Great wireless performance and battery life
  • Detachable numpad that can be attached on either side of the keyboard
  • All keys configurable using companion software
  • Includes an easy to read battery level indicator
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Scroll wheel not configurable
  • No function layer to customise
9
out of 10

Overall

This is an absolutely fantastic keyboard and one I have no reservations recommending to others. It's one I not only recommend checking out, but will be checking out myself should a personal need for keyboards arise in the future. It's versatile, it looks great, and it's a joy to type on.
This actually has a numpad? Awesome; ever since I got my Lenovo laptop back in 2018, I've become quite a fan of numpads; too bad not all keyboards (and especially laptop ones) have one...
 
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Reactions: Ozito
it's quite nice, although sometimes the connectivity is a bit wonky. That's probably more the fault of my computer, however.
 
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