ASUS ROG Azoth review: On another level

❘ Published: 2023-01-04T16:12:01

Dexerto

ASUS recently announced the ROG Azoth, a new 75% gaming keyboard meant to be an option for gamers and customizers alike to bring their gaming and typing experience up a notch.

Gaming keyboards have been stagnating for a long, long while. Bigger brands have fallen behind the likes of Higround and Wooting, which incorporate enthusiast-level features for the user while retaining that crucial gaming experience. ASUS has directly responded to this with an option that, really just blows pretty much all the competition out of the water.

The ASUS ROG Azoth is a 75% gaming keyboard with a hotswappable PCB, dense layers of silicone and poron dampening, removable screw-in stabilizers, PBT keycaps, and an OLED media function. It’s also equipped with an OLED screen for media controls and premium PBT keycaps. If that laundry list isn’t enough, there’s even more inside.

The ROG Azoth also comes with a switch lubing station, complete with Krytox lube in addition to a switch opening tool and brush. From the outset, this is just a deeply impressive effort.

Key specs

Switch type: ASUS ROG NX Red (Pre-lubed, Hot-swappable)
Keycaps: PBT
Connectivity: Wired (USB-C), Bluetooth, 2.4GHz
Form factor: 75%
Lighting: North-facing RGB
Features: Pre-lubed, OLED screen, three-way control knob, adjustable feet, silicon & poron dampening, silicone gaskets
Battery life: Up to 130 hours
Price: TBC
Where to buy: TBC

Included in the box: ASUS ROG Azoth, Switch opener, keycap puller, switch puller, lube station, lube brush, Krytox 205 lube, 3x ROG NX switches, 8x Stabilizer mats, USB dongle, USB extender, USB-C to USB-A cable.

Design

The ASUS ROG Azoth is extremely reminiscent of other expanded 75% keyboards like the Keychron Q1. With a gunmetal finish and metal top frame, the board oozes quality from the moment you take it out of the box. There’s a subtle two-tone finish to the keycaps, in black and dark grey, while you get a shine-through legend. While we’re not huge fans of the ROG lettering, the board feels incredibly premium to the touch, and we’re just getting started.

On the right-hand corner, ASUS has stuffed a greyscale OLED monitor, which is customizable through their software, in addition to a three-way volume rocker. Our only gripe with the volume rocker here is that it’s pretty easy to actuate, and we found ourselves accidentally putting the volume up, instead of muting it as we intended.

At the top, you’ll find the housing divides into a plastic bottom, where you can find the connectivity options, which include Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz mode, something that many enthusiast boards lack. You also get a small slot to place your 2.4GHz dongle, while the Type-C port is nestled all the way to the left.

Inside the ROG Azoth

While it’s pretty on the outside, the ROG Azoth has a whole host of features inside that we’ve been clamoring for in mainstream gaming keyboards for months. You get a healthy dose of foam dampening, which even extends to the spacebar, while the base of the board is further dampened via silicone. This is mainly for acoustics, as is the full lubing of the switches out of the box, which extends to the screw-in stabilizers.

The switches and stabilizers are all made by ROG themselves, which are indeed serviceable, but you can easily customize them with the included tools to really personalize your setup.

Here, the PCB is gasket-mounted, though we felt zero flex while the board was assembled. Unfortunately, the ROG Azoth uses north-facing RGB LEDs on its PCB, which may cause some conflicts with switches, slightly going against the DIY-ness of the keyboard.

Accessories

The accessories included with the ROG Azoth are nothing short of staggering. You essentially get a full lubing kit to enhance your typing experience, as well as a couple of switches to practice with, too. This is unheard of in the mainstream keyboard space. So, the ROG Azoth gives us an incredibly welcome addition. It turns the ROG Azoth from a high-end gaming board, into a DIY keyboard kit.

Performance

Out of the box, the ROG Azoth is nothing short of fantastic, the acoustics of the board make it buttery smooth out of the box, meaning that you essentially only hear the switches, and nothing else. Should you choose to swap out the switches and lube up another set, you can step it up yet another level.

We found typing simple and easy, though we prefer other switches, while the wireless functionality allowed us to use the board across devices without a single hitch. This extends to gaming as well.

While the board cannot keep pace with the likes of Wooting, it’s no slouch, and we went through games of Civilization, Overwatch 2, and Gundam Evolution without so much as a slight adjustment period.

Should you buy it?

If you’re looking for a gaming keyboard with heaps of features, and want to dip your feet into the DIY keyboard scene, there is no better place to do it than the ROG Azoth.

We still don’t have firm pricing or a release date, but if you are looking for a new gaming keyboard that simply has it all, the ROG Azoth is absolutely unmissable. We just wished that it had south-facing RGB.