is an editor covering deals and gaming hardware. He joined in 2018, and after a two-year stint at Polygon, he rejoined The Verge in May 2025.
Hall effect gaming keyboards aren’t uncommon. But Asus’ ROG Falcata is the only one that’s also a split ergonomic keyboard, aimed at alleviating wrist, hand, or arm pain. For the luxury of having it all, you’ll pay $419.99, enough to buy a nice Hall effect keyboard and a split ergonomic one.
It’d be worth it if the Falcata truly represented the best of both worlds, but I’m split. As a Hall effect board, it succeeds, offering a wealth of customization options, including the ability to let you adjust each key’s actuation point by as little as a hundredth of a millimeter at a time. But if you’re buying it for ergonomics, like me, then maybe not. My biggest concern during testing was its limited tenting angles. $420 seems very steep for a keyboard that doesn’t... get very steep.
Tenting is an integral feature of split ergo keyboards. Being able to raise the inner sides of each of the two sections to your liking allows your arms and wrists to rest in a more neutral position than they would on a regular keyboard. The Falcata can only tent up to seven degrees (or six with the wrist rests installed). Some people may only need the slight tenting that the Falcata offers; I’m used to a 15-degree tent on my Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB, while some prefer even higher.
You may not know what feels right until you use a tented keyboard, but at this price, Asus should have included more tenting options — and longer USB-C link cables, too. The halves can only be separated by a maximum of 10 inches, which doesn’t let me spread my arms as much as I need to feel relief (the Freestyle’s non-detachable cable can go up to 14 inches). Sure, I can use my own longer cable with the Falcata, but at $420, this is an oversight.
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1 / 5 You can actually achieve one degree higher tenting without the wrist rests installed.
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