 Feel for the year in reviewing keyboards after I reviewed the ROG Falcon. But I was shocked when I was hit with an Instagram sponsored post from ROG about a RGB wireless gaming keyboard with a detachable numpad. I contacted ROG minutes after I saw it and asked if we could review it. So special shout out to Asus Philippines for being awesome in lending us the ROG Claymore 2 and the ROG Gladius 3 for our rigorous 2 month test. More on the Gladius in a future video. I mean, jeez, it's a full size sleek looking RGB wireless keyboard that does a unique trick and it has a volume control wheel. Wires suck. The only time wires are great is if your PC is linked up to your router via an ethernet cable, a video which I talked about here. But most of the time, the best wired products are the ones you can barely tell they have wires to begin with, thus the internet's obsession in cable management. Hi, I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar, the only computer shop in the Philippines with no BS warranty. And this is our review of the ROG Claymore 2. Let's talk Claymore design. It's a full sized wireless keyboard which comes in a combination of brushed aluminum and black matted plastic. The top left corner with the ROG logo and battery meter is covered by tinted hard plastic. The Claymore tool also comes with a leatherette wrist pad, something which Logitech's competing keyboard, the G915, does not give. Leatherette has never lasted very long for me, whether it was on a chair or my headset. I'd still prefer something more long lasting such as my K70's plastic wrist rest or maybe a wooden block. But nevertheless, it's free and best of all, it locks in place via magnets. Taking a look under its belly and you will see ROG's textured industrial design and yes, an even bigger ROG logo. Now let's talk about this. The Claymore's numpad can be removed entirely or switched from left to right. This is probably the only keyboard I know which has this feature built into the design itself. If you aren't a keypad sort of user, then you nevertheless may still want to pay attention because the four macro keys and the volume scroll wheel move along with it. So if you prefer the macro and volume rock on your left, it's as simple as sliding out the numpad, removing a plastic cover, sliding in the numpad and returning the plastic covers. I think it's a cool feature to have, especially if you think the numpad being on the left looks more attractive. One problem which immediately comes to mind are these plastic covers which are easy to lose. So you'll want to make sure you never do the switcheroo's half baked at any point. The high point of the Claymore 2 is of course that it is wireless and extremely responsive through its 2.4GHz sensor. Conveniently, just like the ROG Falcon, it can be tucked safely inside a magnetized cavity just in case you feel like traveling with the keyboard. This magnetized cavity should be standard in all keyboards and mice which require a similar sensor. Not praise to ROG for being consistent in adding this feature in their keyboards. Another thing I want to point out is that the ROG Falcon gave me connection problems with its 2.4GHz sensor as in the connection would cut out and I needed to unplug the sensor and put it back in. With the Claymore 2, using the exact same port I did for the Falcon, I haven't suffered a single drop in connection throughout the entire review period. Typing on this was surprisingly very relaxing. For switches, I prefer clicky or blue. Our review in it though comes with the RX Red optical switches. It's on the quieter side as opposed to blue switches but surprisingly more clicky than past red switches I'm used to. Keyboards with optical switches such as the Claymore 2 give you a quicker reaction time than metal switches and have a longer life because there is no metal contact. It is the most pressure sensitive keyboard I have ever used. Sometimes, when I rest my fingers on the was of the keyboard, my fingers naturally begin to relax and I actually begin spamming input. Thankfully this only happens during times I'm not really doing anything with the keyboard. Thus it never impacted actual gameplay by making me press something I didn't want to while I was FPSing. The Claymore 2 also comes in blue switches in case you want to go with that option instead. I have covered ASUS Armory Create and Aura Sync RGB software in my past videos which I'll link above. Overall, the RGB lighting is standard for what you would expect from a gaming keyboard nowadays. Bright and vibrant colors, all of which are highly customizable through the mentioned software. One irritant is that while you can change the RGB profile wirelessly, you won't be able to do it if there is a new software patch for the Claymore 2. In which case you would need to have the keyboard plugged in through the USB-C port, update it and then you can go back to wirelessly changing profiles. The Claymore 2 can be used both wired and wirelessly. The battery life of the Claymore 2 is fantastic. I can easily go 4 days with a full charge. You can also program it to warn you well beforehand when it's about to die on you. In my case, I set it to warn me when it has only 25% battery left so that I know to leave the keyboard charging over USB-C after I shut down. Now here are my biggest problems with the Claymore. First, the volume knob of our review unit is irritatingly imprecise. It tends to always increase the volume upwards no matter how many times I push to lower the volume. In most cases when I lower the volume a little, it just shoots up to 100%. The complete opposite of what I wanted. This problem goes away after you've fought with the wheel a number of times during a session, after which it begins to behave. However, this isn't a permanent fix because an hour or two later, you could expect to end up fighting the volume wheel all over again. It is a pity because the volume wheel is fun to use and the stealthy black finish is nice to look at. Second, the premium nature of the design is disturbed by the flimsy nature of the numpad attachment. The keyboard is solid when it is stationary on your desk, but when you pick it up, the numpad looks and feels like excess baggage with the way it rattles up and down. Third, I didn't think I'd be put off at first, but over time, the plastic tint at the top left, because it's reflective, ruins the stealthy look it was going for. Nevertheless, they needed to place the battery indicator somewhere. I just wish it didn't look so cheap looking. It is a pity considering the rest of the brushed aluminum build really does make this keyboard awesome to look at and touch. Lastly, the local Philippine price of 13,500 pesos or 269 US dollars is an extremely difficult pill to swallow. This puts it neck and neck with Logitech G915, which retails for slightly cheaper. Obviously, this keyboard is built for a gamer who doesn't care about price. However, even if price isn't an issue for you, some of the issues I mentioned above will. And it may leave a bad taste in your mouth that some of these features, a reliable volume wheel and non-rocking keyboard parts, already exist in most keyboards which are substantially cheaper. In conclusion, the Claymore 2 wireless keyboard is a reliable gaming keyboard which declutters your desk. I don't doubt that a lot of gamers will enjoy adding into their PC rig. I know that I definitely will have difficulty going back to my wired Corsair K70. However, if the volume wheel defect I encountered exists in all of them, then that is an extremely big turn off. For the purpose of the rating, I will just assume that some units have the defect and some don't. Thus, it is best you test this out before you leave the store. In terms of responsiveness, ROG's optical switches is a necessity for hardcore gamers. These things are very precise and if you game as a profession, then you should probably ignore the problem of the volume scroll wheel because the switches make up for this defect by so much more. However, for us normal folk who die too often to be considered part of the online elite, I think the Claymore 2 deserves a 7-star rating. If the volume wheel wasn't a problem, then I would have given it a 7.5-star rating. Overall, the price point is still very far away from most consumers and what you get is excellent in many areas but average in others. What I can say however is that ROG is definitely designing keyboards in the right direction. We want to give an extremely special shout out to our top fans who help pay for this new teleprompter. Liam Magnae, Ian Meru, Richard Ongkinko, ITX Addict, John Rubinochia, and Christian Aspinosa. Thanks a lot guys, this is going to make producing content a lot faster. Stay safe everyone.