Asus ROG Falchion Ace HFX Review

Introduction

The Asus ROG Falchion Ace HFX takes the clever design quirks and intriguing features that have set the brand’s Falchion line of gaming keyboards apart from the competition and adds in a fresh sprinkling of Hall effect goodness for good measure.

As with its lower profile brother, the ROG Falchion RX Low Profile, this newer option retains the clever touch bar across the top and the handy keyboard cover, while adding in powerful Hall effect switches and dual USB-C ports in a suitably premium-priced package.

The Falchion Ace HFX will set you back £239.99/$199.99, easily making it one of the more expensive gaming keyboards I’ve tested in recent times, meaning it has to go up against some of the very top contenders, such as the Wooting 60HE+ and the SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Gen 3.

I’ve been putting this latest contender from Asus through its paces for the last couple of weeks just to see how well it fares, and if it makes for one of the best gaming keyboards we’ve tested.

Design

• Mean, black chassis
• Sterling build quality
• Unique features on the top panel

Against the sleek, low-profile nature of the Falchion RX Low Profile, this Ace HFX variant has a much meaner look to it with an all-black colourway that extends from the plastic chassis to the keycaps and the keyboard’s cover. It’s definitely a unified look that I’m a bit of a fan of.

The Falchion Ace HFX also benefits from some fantastic build quality with a thick plastic chassis that suffers from no deck flex, especially thanks to having a grey metal top plate for added rigidity and style points.

Its solid construction and well-appointed features also extend to its textured PBT keycaps that feel excellent under the finger and are a further marker of this keyboard attempting to justify its higher price point; they’re also a lot more durable than the typical ABS plastic, and a lot more resistant to keycap shine.

The Falchion Ace HFX features a 65% layout, adding a small set of navigation keys and arrow keys on the right side to the alphanumeric options to provide a little more flexibility. For the extra row of keys, it’s a much more usable layout than the smaller 60%, and one I had no trouble with when using the keyboard. Curiously, this is also one of the first gaming keyboards full stop that I’ve seen with Microsoft’s Copilot key as standard.

Across the top side is where things get interesting, as this keyboard comes with some rather unique features. First of all, there are two USB-C ports to allow for a choice of where the detachable cable comes out of, as well as a toggle switch on the right side for the keyboard’s rapid trigger functionality, with no need to dive into software.

As well as this, the left side of this top panel is somewhere you can slide to change everything from the actuation point of the switches to the Falchion Ace HFX’s RGB brightness and media volume – the function is selectable with the button in the left corner. That’s very clever, and something I wish more brands would consider trying, even if I do prefer a good old volume dial.

In terms of its packaging, the ROG Falchion Ace HFX ships with its plastic keyboard cover around it, with the keyboard wrapped tightly in plastic. Otherwise, it comes in a ROG-branded fabric bag and then in two cardboard boxes. It’s nice packaging, although the tightly wrapped plastic bag isn’t the best touch.

Performance

• Speedy Hall effect switches
• Solid acoustics and smooth feel under finger
• 8000Hz polling rate for even more potency for pro players

As its name suggests, the Falchion Ace HFX features Asus’ own ROG Magnetic HFX switches inside, which are Hall effect. This means they’re a lot more customisable than standard mechanical options with adjustable actuation points, so switches require less effort for an input to be registered.

Combined with this, there is also support for rapid trigger functionality for fast actuation and reset that helps to make this keyboard immensely responsive in my testing in Counter-Strike 2. Having it set to the WASD keys for speedy movement and to the R key for brisk reloading can make a difference in those quick-draw scenarios.

As much as these are potent switches, the rapid trigger powers are their limit, where the Falchion Ace HFX is lacking in the controller-like accuracy that you can get with the Wooting 60HE+’s analogue powers, for instance.

Beyond these powers, the ROG Magnetic HFX switches are equally competent for day-to-day use, too. They feel as if they’re a middleweight linear switch, with a smooth feel thanks to lubrication and consistent keypress that makes them a solid choice if you also want to get your head down and get some work done. Thanks to multiple layers of sound-dampening inside, the Falchion Ace HFX also has exemplary acoustics for a gaming keyboard.

The Falchion Ace HFX also benefits from an 8000Hz polling rate for even more frequent reporting of inputs than more ‘standard’ gaming keyboards that have a 1000Hz polling rate, to allow for potentially even faster and more responsive inputs. It may not be something that mere mortals can experience, but for the pro players, where every millisecond counts, it can make a world of difference.

Connectivity is also strictly for zero-latency, and while this may make the Falchion Ace HFX a little inflexible against comparably priced wireless options, it goes to show how much Asus has focused on this keyboard’s speed and versatility as opposed to its power.

Software and Lighting

• Solid integration with ROG Armory Crate software
• Bright and potent RGB lighting

For software support, the Falchion Ace HFX features solid integration with Asus’ Armory Crate where you can control everything from the keyboard’s lighting to the actuation point of the switches on a per 0.1mm basis between 0.1mm and 4mm of travel.

The software is reasonably clean and easy to navigate, with solid functionality baked within. You can also select different, game-specific profiles if you want to save some hassle with programming keys yourself.

The Falchion Ace HFX’s lighting is also commendable, with bright and vibrant per-key RGB that shines through those PBT keycaps well. As well as using the aforementioned software to control it, you can also use the Fn and the ASDF keys for different patterns.

Should you buy it?

FAQs