Asus Claymore II Review – Clicky Optical with HOT SWAP Numpad

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Do you like gaming on a TKL, but love your number pad for work? Or do you prefer your number pad on the left side? Why not buy a keyboard that lets you do all of that! This is the Asus Claymore II, and much like the original it has a modular number pad that you can leave off, attach on the right, or on the left! But what’s changed about this V2? Mostly, the switches. These clicky bois are Asus’ optical switches, but now with added click! Oh and it’s wireless now too.

First off, lets talk numpad. This is the same basic idea as the first generation Claymore, a detachable numpad that can connect to either side of the keyboard. The connection is really easy, just hook it on and slide it down and bam, it’s working. The connection is pretty loose, if you press with any force near the seam, say on the arrow keys, the hinge flexes considerably. I’m not worried about it breaking or anything, it just doesn’t feel great. My model also doesn’t let you enable numlock, you change that setting by detaching and reattaching, that’s likely a firmware bug that should be fixed with an update.

Anyway, the numpad has a few changes since the last gen, namely the volume scroller is a little wider, and now you have what look like fighter pilot switches below it. Sadly they don’t flip up, but by default they are media keys for pause/play, back forward and mute, although those can be reassigned in their Armoury Create software as usual.

Then there’s the switches. These are Asus’ optical switches, the same design they used in their Scope RX keyboard I checked out a little while ago, but now they are ‘Blue’, aka clicky. This click lines up with where the actuation point is, and since these are the more basic style of optical switches, just a fixed beam of light that is made or broken to actuate the switch, this works fine. On the more advanced style where it tracks your full travel, having a tactile click makes a lot less sense, especially as you can often move where it actuates in software, but for this design it’s fine. Personally, I prefer tactile, but not clicky switches. A ‘brown’ switch would make this perfect, but I did enjoy the change from the linear ‘red’ style switches you usually see in these.

The click isn’t too loud, have a listen.

It’s definitely noticeable, and enough to be annoying for some, but if you like clicky these are great. When it comes to the typing experience, man are these smooth. It feels amazing to type on. The tactile bump is noticeable but not annoying, and the scissor stabilisers you can see through the clear housings make the travel feel so level and effortless. The spring weight is just right for me too, not too stiff, not too light. It’s a 60g switch, with a max of 65g at the tactile bump.

When it comes to gaming, it really shines. The combination of optical switches, a nice tactile bump and silky-smooth travel makes this a pleasure to game on, especially if you are more gentle with it. The space bar does make quite a loud clack if you smash it which isn’t the best, but overall I really enjoyed playing on it.

One of the other perks is that it’s wireless. It has a tiny USB dongle hidden in a slot in the back, and offers either 43 hours of gaming with LEDs on, or 144 hours with the LEDs off. You’ll also get a bit more if you use it without the numpad installed. That’s not bad, and seeing as it has a USB type C port on the back to charge (or use it wired) and a USB A port for passthrough, it’s pretty easy to use. Interestingly, the first sample of this I had bricked itself after being left plugged in for too long. I’m not sure if that was a firmware issue, hardware, or what, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

So, what’s the catch? As always, the price tag. Currently, you’d be parting ways with £250 to get your hands on one of these bad boys. Yeah, you heard that right. 250. You could by a TKL for gaming, AND a full size for working, and still have money left over. Sure you get an included wrist rest too, but eh… not sure I could justify spending that much on a keyboard – at least not one that isn’t fully custom. Of course, it’ll be up to you to decide if you’d be willing to splash that much cash on a board like this, but if you are I’d love to hear why in the comments below.

Overall, I do like the Claymore II. I’m not sure the hotswappable numpad is really a feature I care for myself – I use a full size keyboard normally and haven’t ever wished it was a TKL just to game – but the new blue switches are a nice touch. If they could make a brown version, and stick it on a standard full size board and sell that for like £120 I’d be in heaven, but for now this will do. In the current market, I do think this is a bit better than Corsair’s K100, although that is £20 cheaper, but still obscene at £230.