We are used to dedicated tech devices that only do one thing. We buy racing wheels to play Gran Turismo 7 and Assetto Corsa, we don’t mind buying dedicated headphones just for music, and leverless controllers for fighting games are also a thing already. But when it comes down to a keyboard, for some reason, it’s not very accepted for them being just for gaming.
And Asus ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE is unmistakably a gaming keyboard first and foremost. All of it, starting from the switches and ending with ergonomics, was made with gaming in mind. This fact makes it a hard sell for someone who needs a keyboard for general use, but it has its merits if you need something purposeful for gaming.
ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE has been on the market for a while now, and while there are some other Hall Effect magnetic switch options, this keyboard from Asus remains one of the better choices. The question is, do you need a HE keyboard?
Table of contents
ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE specs and price
| Function | Specification |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | USB 2.0 |
| Key Switches | ROG HFX V2/V2X Magnetic Switches |
| Keycap | PBT/ABS keycaps |
| Layout | 75% (83/84 keys) |
| Backlighting | Per-key RGB LEDs |
| Multi-function Button & Touch Panel |
4 modes: volume, media, lighting brightness, and mouse scroll (customizable functions) |
| Anti-Ghosting | N-Key Rollover |
| Polling Rate | 8000 Hz |
| Macro Keys | All keys programmable |
| Macro Recording | On-the-fly recording support |
| Cable Type | Detachable braided USB-A to USB-C |
| Cable Length | 1.8 m |
| Supported OS | Windows 11 |
| Onboard Memory | 5 customizable profiles & 1 default profile |
| Basic Hotkeys | Profile Switch: Fn + profiles |
| Software | Gear Link |
| Product Dimension | 320 x 145 x 35 mm |
| Product Weight | 870 g |
| Price | $219.99 |
Hardware
ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE is a 75% keyboard, the most desirable size for gaming — it retains the F-keys while cutting off the Numpad and squishes the arrow keys into the body, thus giving players more space to use the mouse in.
If you’ve never used one before, it can take some time to get a feel for it, but it’s the most popular form-factor for a reason.
The pièce de résistance of this keyboard is what it has inside: ROG HFX V2 or V2X Magnetic Switches. They are factory-lubed and hot-swappable, but the options you can swap to are quite limited due to the nature of the tech.
They are the reason for this keyboard’s existence, but they’re also its biggest flaw. The problem with magnetic switches is their typing feel, as well as how they sound. Due to the nature of key actuation in Hall Effect switches, and your ability to customize the travel distance, there’s no tactile bump or distinct feel of bottoming out like in tactile and linear mechanical ones.
The closest they feel like are actually the old-school membrane ones, though obviously nowhere as mushy.
The sound is also not as good as Asus’ own mechanical ones, like ROG NX Snow V2 and Storm V2, though the issues are somewhat alleviated by a very nice and dense build, and various dampening layers under the PCB. Chassis doesn’t ping at all, and the keycaps also don’t wobble or clack.
Keycaps are actually very nice. They’re shine-through, double-shot PBT, and the key feel is more than decent. They’re significantly better than the ABS keycaps in Asus’ ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless we reviewed last month, but this is also a significantly more expensive keyboard.
Connectivity
Unfortunately, ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE comes only in the wired configuration, as the magnetic nature of the switches, plus the 8000 Hz polling rate, makes both energy draw and battery longevity a major concern. Thus, Asus decided not to try to invent a bicycle and stuck with a trusty wire. Especially considering that most gamers would actually prefer this, as both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz connections are plainly less stable than a good old wire.
This keyboard supports an 8000 Hz polling rate, which is a marketing term companies keep perpetuating as something desirable that you absolutely need in your life. And while it’s not a bad thing to have, a regular old 1000 Hz polling rate keyboard is more than enough for most people. Don’t make your keyboard purchasing decision based on this stat in this or any other keyboard.
Touch panel
Many modern keyboards come with multimedia keys or knobs. For the ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE, Asus tried to be innovative and also save space. And thus, they decided to add an interactive touchpad on the back of the keyboard. It’s around 10 centimeters in length, and gives you the ability to control the volume, media, and backlight controls, as well as 4th customizable mode (mouse scroll wheel functionality by default). These modes are switched between by pressing a button next to the panel.
While this sounds like an interesting solution, in practice, it’s not very comfortable to use. You need to reach over your keyboard to reach it, and it’s not the most responsive touchpad either. It’s also very difficult to make small adjustments.
I would have much preferred a knob or a scroll wheel, which the keyboard already has. But…
Scroll wheel
…the scroll wheel of this keyboard is not remappable and serves one function only — actuation and rapid trigger adjustment. On the one hand, it’s an extremely useful feature that allows you to adjust how hard you need to press your keys for the action to be registered, as well as rapid trigger sensitivity. It even has per-key customization by pressing the scroll wheel for three seconds.
But on the other hand, I would still much prefer it to be a volume and media control. While the existing feature is good, I did not really need to adjust it once after I set it to comfortable values.
And well, if it’s not remappable at all due to the nature of what it adjusts, I would prefer a second, symmetrical scroll wheel to be on its opposite side over the touch bar that we got.
Gaming and typing
Now, the words from the intro are still true — this is not a good productivity keyboard. But we’ll not rate it as one, as its purpose is also clear — gaming, gaming, and gaming. So I tested it in various games: Marvel Rivals, League of Legends, Cyberpunk 2077, Crimson Desert, Hades II, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Beta.
As contentious as the Rapid Trigger (also known as SOCD) feature is, it’s also very powerful. As a reminder, it allows for the last input to overwrite the previous one during simultaneous key presses. Essentially, by rapidly hitting “A” and “D,” you won’t stop when both of the keys are hit, but will rather alternate directions seamlessly. Many call this cheating, and some games like Counter-Strike have banned this on the grounds of the fairness of competition.
It’s something you need to get used to, but if my results in Marvel Rivals casual lobbies are anything to go by, it allowed me to move better, and therefore, get hit less.
In League of Legends, I put sensitivity to the max value, so my reaction time lag is at least somewhat offset by the abilities going off the moment I touch the key, not after I bottom it out. It’s difficult to say if anything would have been different with a mechanical keyboard, but it felt really good. However, there were some accidental ability activations as well, because at its most sensitive, the key presses are essentially hair-trigger.
Cyberpunk 2077 was my testing ground for car driving, as the game’s driving system is super sensitive when you use the keyboard, and immediate direction changes lead to overcorrections.
ROG Falchion Ace 75 HE allowed me to steer by applying different amounts of force, as if I were using an analog gamepad. This feature will definitely be useful for Trackmania and Osu! players.
Verdict
But why am I still grumpy if the keyboard has all these upsides? Because it all comes back down to the feel: it’s just not pleasant to press the keys. It has all the gains, all the tangible and perceptible benefits, and I still went back to the ROG Strix Morph 96 Wireless I reviewed last month, which is worse in every way on paper.
The thing is though, this is not Asus’ fault. I’m a big keyboard enthusiast and have tried many Hall Effect options that appeared in the last couple of years, ROG Falchion Ace 65 included. And I can say with lots of confidence that ROG Falchion Ace 75 is the best Hall Effect keyboard currently on the market.
If you feel that you need something with magnetic switches for your gaming needs, you can’t go wrong with this. You just need to be ready for inferior-feeling keys that are not the best for general use. There are rumblings of breakthroughs in the magnetic switch field, but until it arrives, this is the reality of HE.
- Good build quality despite being mostly plastic.
- Gear Link software.
- Thoughtful 75% layout.
- Good for gaming-related use.
- On-the-fly adjustments for sensitivity and SOCD.
- Hall Effect switches don't feel or sound good.
- Touch panel is inconvenient and not very useful.
- Scroll wheel is not rebindable.
