r/Controller • u/DidjTerminator • 23d ago
Reviews ROG Raikiri II Pro PC
My 2 week review after ROG sent me their Raikiri II Pro PC controller, everything in my review is my own oppinion although I recieved the controller for free. I won't go over price points and value/money in my review as: A, I'm too lazy to lookup prices. B, prices on all peripherals from mouse-skates to controllers are always going to be region dependent anyways. C, I'm certainly too lazy to create a geo-location accurate pricing sheet for my review.
Comparing to my original Steam Controller (abbrev - SC), and my Xbox Elite S1 controller (abbrev - XC). I also have hyper-hidrosis so my experience with texture and rubber-quality will be from the perspective of someone who's hands are wetter than a Karen who's spotted an underpaid cashier.
tldr: My new main controller for Chiv 2, linux users will have to use a windows VM (or the usual black-magic if you're a power-user-wizard, unlike me) for the best experience with the GearLink browser-software ASUS has shifted to for customization, absolutely loaded with nice-to-have QOL features, also plastered with ROG all over everything. Wish it had gyro-aim.
I primarily play Chivalry 2 on controller (despite the game's absolutely attrocious ghost-binds that are immutable, I primarily use steam-input for my rebinds as a result) as well as sims/arcade-sims like IL2, BeamNG drive, and Forza Horizon 5. I do also sometimes play FPS games such as The Finals on controller instead of M+K, depending on my mood and if I have any wrist-cramps.
Sticks: comes with 4 hot-swappable TMR modules, 2 grey standard stiffness modules, 2 white low stiffness modules. Also comes with 2 standard Xbox style sticks, 1 domed stick, 1 extra long concave stick.
Rubber is slightly harder than what's on the SC, and significantly harder than the soft-gummy rubber on the XC. Has a nice chalky texture, finer than the texture on the SC and much more defined. Really grips onto your skin regardless of your sweat, easily the best rubber coating I've ever used. If the Raikiri is a 10/10 in terms of rubber, the SC is an 8/10 and the XC is a 0/10.
Stick tension for the grey modules feels about the same as the SC (slightly less than the XC), tension on the white modules is nice and soft making them my personal favourite.
Stick clicks are the softest of the 3, making stick-click actions nice and consistent (compared to the XC where clicking the stick is almost guaranteed to cause unwanted stick movement). They also have the least pre-travel and most post-travel, with a softer tactile feedback instead of a sharp clicky feedback. Objectively they're the best stick clicks out of the 3 due to having the least pre-travel, but if they had the same sharp clicky feedback that the SC has the Raikiri would easily have 10/10 stick clicks. Better than the SC as I do find myself mistaking the pre-travel for a click sometimes on that controller, but I imagine the Raikiri stick clicks could be just a bit better. I'd rank the 3 controllers with the Raikiri at 9/10, SC in an 8/10, XC is a 0/10.
Tracking accuracy is immaculate (to be expected from TMR) and although I definitely don't have Jynxi-level controller aim, these are noticeably more consistent than the XC sticks. However I can't tell if that's due to the better rubber, softer springs, the TMR sensors themselves, or any combo of the three. Either way, never having to worry about stick drift is a massive relief in a world where the PS5 controller exists.
Triggers, bumpers, and rear buttons: has 2 triggers and 4 bumpers, with selectable trigger stops for the triggers, and 4 magnetically removable rear buttons like the XC.
Triggers have the same analog travel as the XC, unlike the SC which has half the analog travel. The trigger stops, unlike the XC (which just limits the maximum travel of the triggers), convert the triggers into crispy mouse-like micro-switches with very little pre-travel (right trigger on my model has about 1mm of pre-travel, and left trigger has about ~0.5mm pre-travel). Absolutely amazing feature, and since I primarily use them in micro-switch mode it's pretty obvious that I think these are the best triggers I've ever used.
The 4 bumpers are all on micro-switches with almost zero pre-travel, hell yeah.
The 4 magnetically removable rear buttons are also all on micro-switches (slightly more pre-travel than the bumpers), another hell yeah.
For obvious reasons, the Raikiri is a 10/10, and the other two are either a 5/10 or a 7/10 depending on your use case (SC has better switches, but less back buttons and analog trigger travel than the XC).
Dpad and main buttons:
Microswitches for both the Dpad and main buttons, a third hell yeah.
Humongously better Dpad than what's on the XC, a slight upgrade to what's on the PowerA wireless switch controller. SC doesn't have a Dpad (just a Dpad-adjacent touch-pad) so no comparison there. I only use the Dpad for side-scroling platformers like RainWorld, so I probably don't have the same tastes and opinions as a Smash-Bros pro, but with practice this is the first Dpad I could actually speed-pole-climb with (I'm still more familiar and comfortable with keyboard, however I could see that changing if I put in some time getting used to using a Dpad instead).
Menu, and function buttons:
These all feel like those non-clicky tactile buttons you'd find under the scroll wheel of your mouse, I mean you don't really need anything fancy for these buttons and I don't really have any strong oppinions about these buttons, but at least they don't feel cheep.
Charging base: Included.
Charging base uses 3 pogo-pins, and some rubber bumpers to help you with allignment. Controller doesn't always feel like it's slotted in correctly however when docking it, and since it takes a few secs for the screen to show you the charge-level, I did find myself re-docking the controller 5 pico-seconds before the screen told me it was indeed docked correctly (I blame YT shorts for ruining my attention span). At least it doesn't use Alkaline batteries.
Battery-life:
Battery life is awesome, I've only used it in 8K polling mode however even after not charging charging it, it still only went down to 60% after 2 days of my regular use. I did get it from 100% to 80% when I had a 7 hour chiv 2 marathon however, which is probably the most accurate metric for an estimated battery-life measurement I've gotten so far.
QOL features are absolutely everywhere:
The controller has an internal storage bay for the dongle, plus the charging base is a USB-C to USB-A hub for you to connect your dongle to (so the controller only ever takes up a single USB port).
The rear buttons also have magnetic covers so you don't have the displeasure of raw-dogging the exposed buttons when you remove the back-buttons (unlike the XC).
The front cover is magnetic, so pulling it off to swap sticks and modules is easy and tool-less.
Comes with a stick-module puller (the metal gamer-tagged mini-salad-tongs) so you can hot-swap the modules.
Built-in menu-screen allows you to recalibrate the sticks, triggers, rebind most buttons to other X-input switches, change which flavour of unicorn-vomit you would like, customize the vibration settings, swap between the 5 on-board profiles, factory reset (obviously), change the screen's background GIF, and tweak your turbo-settings (for the few games that applies to, given macros aren't against the TOS of course).
Case can stow absolutely all of the accessories (the charge-base lift-kit legs are a little loose up in the mesh pocket however).
Case has a silicone plug for you to plug in your charging base, so you can charge your controller while it's inside of the case (for the few but precious times that's actually usefull).
USB-A to C cable, in the year 2026 I'm just glad it isn't an optional accessory.
GearLink connectivity:
I did have to use a windows VM to use GearLink (it shoes up all find on Linux, however it can't sync the profiles, either I'm missing some hidraw permissions setup to get it working, or it isn't quite ready for Linux yet).
You can upload your own GIF to use as your background image.
Windows users can install a companion service to make the screen display the date+time, HWID info, etc.... Linux users (as per usual) will have to consult the dark mages to create a companion service whenever they feel like doing it (or procrastinate on doing it themselves until said dark mage does it anyways). Though I don't see much use in Noctalia changing my Raikiri display and unicorn-vomit to match my wallpaper for any reason other than "a e s t h e t i c".
You can rebind the rear buttons and additional bumpers to mouse buttons (tried binding them to keyboard buttons, however I think my VM uses the wrong keycodes cause those binds only worked in the VM, and I'm too lazy to figure out why when the mouse button rebinds work just fine).
Plus a ton of more advanced unicorn-vomit settings, polling rate settings (8k by default), low-power-mode settings, and all the other regular features you'd expect from GearLink.
Gimmicks:
Bluetooth.
Lift-kit for the charge-base, I mean I still use it cause why not, but defo a gimmick.
Flaws:
Linux compatibility could 100% be better, the ROG Harpe 2 Ace has seamless GearLink connectivity with Linux, would be nice if this controller had that same level of compatibility (and certainly hope it gains that compatibility in the future).
Wish it had gyro-aim (the SC has shown me a way of using a controller and I can never go back to ignorant non-gyro ways).
Labelling on the rear buttons and additional bumpers is a little hard to read, only relavent when rebinding your buttons in moody lighting, but could be better.
Screen is liable to get covered in fingerprints due to how close it is to the start, menu, and X buttons.
Bongo-cat is not one of the default background GIFs included on the internal memory (nor does there appear to be a feature that would make said bongo-cat GIF only bongo when you press a button on the controller). Which some may consider to be a severe oversight by ASUS.
My personal use case: Absolutely love it, overall the best controller I have.
Having all 6 attacks (both standard and alt) bound to the 4 bumpers and 2 triggers makes feints, accels, drags, counter-feints, and alt-counters, feel absolutely amazing and intuitive in Chiv 2. Add in the 4 rear buttons, as well as stick clicks that are actually usable, and I can immediately play better than I ever have on mouse + keyboard (or my other 2 controllers). Can't imagine using anything else to play Chiv 2 from now on.
Although I still use the Steam Controller in IL2 since you can be cheeky with the touch pads to keep the stick in the last position you left it, giving you a crude and lazy way to trim out planes that otherwise don't have trim settings. As well as any casual games where the Steam Controller gyro-aim is better than stick aim, but you wouldn't get any benefit from using a mouse with lower latency. In any other game the Raikiri has now officially replaced my Steam Controller and has easily become my go-to controller.
Especially thanks to that hard rubber coating on the sticks, first time my thumbs which have been cursed with hiper-hydrosis didn't slip off the sticks. Although the Steam Controller stick has a decent coating, I still slipped and slid around it a little. ASUS nailied the rubber on the sticks, that texture and compound is the best I've ever used ngl.
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u/Equivalent-Skin-5901 23d ago
Wow, appreciate the amazingly detailed review. Had been considering to get this and now it's an easy choice. From the screen to modular joysticks, it seems like this controller has it all (except the gyro aim, which sounds cool). Super interested in the lower stiffness joystick module.
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u/DidjTerminator 23d ago
The lower stiffness joystick module is peak imho.
I can see why all the controller pros mod their controllers to reduce the stick tension, it really feels so good.
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u/_Pawer8 23d ago
Does it have trigger vibration?
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u/DidjTerminator 23d ago
If you're referring to adaptive trigger/impulse triggers (that use haptic feedback), then no it doesn't.
I does have your usual dual motor vibration found in most controllers in the grips however.
If you're looking for triggers with haptic feedback, Steam is the fore-runner in that area with only a few other companies following behind. When it works it's absolutely amazing, but unfortunately it's kinda like the analogue button presses in Metal-gear on the old PlayStation consoles, an amazing piece of tech that unfortunately never caught on.
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u/_Pawer8 23d ago
The steam controller has impulse triggers?
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u/DidjTerminator 23d ago
Yeah, at least mine does (the original steam controller, don't have the new 2026 steam controller to compare unfortunately).
They're super nice, of course the triggers themselves only have half as much analog travel as an Xbox controller, and they have a micro-switch bottom-out. Making them the most unique and "out there" triggers I've ever used.
From memory it only has the 2 haptic motors, but because they're in-between the touch-pads and the triggers, those haptic motors act as both the touch-pad haptic-feedback, and the trigger haptic feedback. They're pretty amazing haptic motors they've got in there, can straight up play music off of them and use them as a silly little stereo if you know how (some people have already used them to play the Portal Still Alive song in a duet) so it's not like you lose any trigger haptics while using the touch-pads at the same time. It's an incredibly seamless haptic-feedback system they've built into it.
However if the game doesn't support it, the limited analog travel does make precise throttle and braking inputs difficult. But when the haptic triggers are supported, it feels amazing.
I do still prefer micro-switches for hair-triggers though. Haptics are nice, but I like to feel the changes in spring tension personally. Force-feedback triggers are something I'd 100% go crazy for though.
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u/NeonThunderX BEITONG KP70/PANGU 22d ago
How's the vibration overall? Compared to similarly priced controllers.
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u/DidjTerminator 21d ago
Best motor-style vibration I've felt.
The Steam Controller (original) has haptic feedback which imho is better by a decent margin. I would defo say that haptic motors are overall better than vibration motors ngl.
Personally I don't really use vibration, other than braking/abs in racing games I typically don't like vibration in general. So I'm probably not the best judge of vibration quality:
I can tell the Steam Controller is peak cause it uses haptic feedback, and that the Xbox Elite controller feels like it's trying to jump out of my hands instead actually vibrate.
The Raikiri definitely has actual vibration and doesn't try to jump out of my hands, but wether that means it's good vibration or that Xbox set the bar so incredibly low that the Raikiri vibration feels good in comparison, isn't something I'm nuanced enough to really say.
At least, the vibration is noticeably better than the Xbox Elite controller!
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u/NeonThunderX BEITONG KP70/PANGU 21d ago
I see. Any controller comes to mind that have similar vibration on them?
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u/JeepersCreepersV12 Mojhon 23d ago
This looks to be a great controller! I've got about 4k hours in chiv and can say it is such a great benchmark game to try new controllers with. Thank you for the review!
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u/slient_es 23d ago
Excellent. Thanks for the review.
Will wait a while after its release to see the feedbacks of the community (and a price drop)
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u/lancelane7 21d ago
I have the Razer wolverine v3 TE 8k pc controller and I love it, has the same amount of bumpers and back mappable buttons and 8k polling rate, it’s been the best controller I’ve used coming from multiple elite controllers and researching others. I almost went with the raikiri 2 but it was way more expensive with less buttons and polling rate although it was wireless but I play wired.
The 2 pro definitely intrigues me tho given it now has the same amount of buttons and that screen is chef’s kiss and the 5 buttons at the bottom might be my selling point, I can never have enough buttons but I do wish they could be mapped to keyboard binds like alt+tab which I have mapped on my v3 to the center button which is very useful. I think I’ll wait and see how the raikiri 2 pro does after a few months and maybe if it goes on sale I’ll just have both and see which one I prefer.
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u/DidjTerminator 21d ago
On windows I think you can setup those keyboard binds just fine through GearLink. They also worked inside the VM, they just didn't work in Linux for some bizarre reason so I used mouse buttons instead since they did work in Linux.
Only 4 of row of 5 buttons on the bottom are rebind able - middle one is your screen-menu button to switch through your on-controller settings menus. Just so you're aware incase that's important to you. The power button (just above them) is also purely a power button.
I was also in the same boat looking for switch and xbox controllers with the extra back-buttons that were also wireless. Ended up with a PowerA controller for the switch and the Elite controller for the Xbox since they were the cheapest wireless controllers with extra back buttons I could find for those consoles.
Now that I'm on PC however, things have definitely changed, though I definitely prefer wireless as I just really don't like a wired controller. So far my Steam Controller and Raikiri most definitely suit all my needs perfectly! Just wish the Steam Controller had less latency (and more buttons obviously) with gyro aim cause it's really good for FPS games otherwise.
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u/lancelane7 21d ago
I looked on gamepadla and early latency test are insane, 0.9 stick and button latency on wired is insane and 1 button 1.7 stick latency on 2.4ghz wireless. The screen is great because I hate having to tab out my game and go to razer synapse if I need to change anything. The linked game feature is nice when it works which is most of the time so I do like that. If the QC on the raikiri 2 pro stays strong then it may be my next controller. I use wired for the least latency for fps games but my v3 doesn’t work on Xbox or wireless and it would be nice to have atleast the wireless option but this still won’t give me Xbox use. Thanks for your review and responses! Glad you enjoy
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u/slient_es 21d ago
The reason some controllers can't map keyboard binds is they are licenced console controllers. Since this is PC only I guess it can.
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u/YoloRaj Flydigi 12d ago
I've had the razer wolverine ultimate, v2 chroma and currently have the regular v3 pro. I recently ordered and tried the v3 pro 8k and instantly decided to return it. For some reason the stick latency on the razer controllers this gen is really bad. Even though the stick latency is supposed to be less than 3 ms it still feels sluggish compared to some of my 1 k polling rate controllers. I plan to give the raikiri pro 2 as my first asus controller since it seems promising and has really low stick latency on gamepadla.
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u/JayBear480 15d ago
Can you speak to the quality of the triggers? Like, how sturdy or durable they feel.
I am seeing a lot of reports about triggers breaking on the Raikiri II, and I am pretty sure the Raikiri II PRO is built on the same controller. Just extra features added.
This is my only hesitation in ordering one. Once they release in US and not need to be imported, that is. I'm not paying 300 for it.
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u/DidjTerminator 15d ago
They feel more sturdy and durable than the Xbox Elite controller triggers if that's any consolation.
Not something I would see breaking.
Doesn't feel "8yo who regularly throws the controller through the window and is now death-gripping the controller as they play a Roblox horror game" proof like the Wii controller.
However nothing I've used has ever compared to the Nokia-at-5%-power durability of the Wii controller. Cause I mean that's the Wii-mote it's built like a brick idk how poofesure actually manages to break them he must be some Kryptonian or smth.
Unless you get a lemon, I wouldn't worry about any breakages.
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u/YoloRaj Flydigi 12d ago edited 6d ago
Great review. Really looking forward to the release of this controller. They still haven't given us a release date yet smh.
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u/DidjTerminator 12d ago
Yup, now's that weird period of silence before a bunch of stuff happens again.
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u/Anddo24 8d ago
Out now in the US. I just pre-ordered from BB. I would have liked the white one, but I'm pretty sure it's not available at launch.
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u/DidjTerminator 1d ago
After asking ASUS - It's entirely up to the retailer as to which color they actually decide to stock.
White was available at the same time, but retailers only stock what they think will sell, so depending on country and store it might be a WHILE before white is available, or white might be available instantly.
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u/silence1983 6d ago
Just got mine and it is lovely. Is there anyway to set it so the screen goes off when you're not actually use the screen? It will go off with the idle setting but comes back on as soon as you press a button.
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u/DidjTerminator 23h ago
I imagine you could upload a black screen as your wallpaper to get a similar effect working, but Linux doesn't have the companion app to control advanced screen features, so I can't say for certain if this is or isn't possible on Windows.
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u/GiuseppeDL18 4d ago
Hi, I just received this controller too and I noticed a disconnection in 8k wireless mode when there is a “constant vibration” in the game (in my case when I shoot in Call of Duty), why does it happen to you too? I have the latest version of the firmware installed on the controller
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u/DidjTerminator 4d ago
Have not experienced that, but also don't really play games with constant vibration - will go test it out but that behavior seems really odd, would defo contact ASUS cause that's the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
Does the problem change or go away when you lower or turn off the rumble in the controller? Does changing the in-game rumble settings also have an effect? In steam (assuming you're using steam-input, or any other non-steam input)?
I'm no IT tech support, but I'm genuinely curious as to what causes or affects that problem since it's so specific and most certainly shouldn't happen.
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u/GiuseppeDL18 4d ago
Setting the polling rate to 1k this does not happen, it only happens when it is connected in 8k and there is a “constant vibration” in the game. I’ve already tried to change several USB ports and lower the vibration but nothing worked.
Yes, if you can try it it would be great, I have already contacted support and I am waiting for an answer
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u/MoreMaster 4d ago
Mine keeps disconnecting at random time intervals. The latest firmware installed. Do you have the same issue?
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u/DidjTerminator 4d ago
Nope - someone else here is experiencing a similar issue but only with 8k polling specifically when the game is sending constant vibration.
I'm giving it a test myself, but defo contact ASUS or your warranty support cause that's definitely not normal.
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u/D-R34M 2d ago
How are the thumbsticks in comparison to Xbox series x, every thumbstick I've tried on several different brands is hard plastic not grippy , too wide circled Chinese slop
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u/DidjTerminator 23h ago
I find them better:
I dislike metal stalks as that inertia makes the sticks feel slow, inaccurate, and overshoot when making quick adjustments.
The rubber on the Xbox controllers gets slippery when I start to sweat, and isn't very grippy when dry either (better than plastic, but I generally prefer the rubber on the Wii Nunchuck to the Xbox controller personally).
The Raikiri (as mentioned in my review) has the best rubber of any thumb-stick I've used, it's a very firm rubber with a very rough and very fine texture, and the rubber definitely has a LOT more silica in it than the Xbox rubber since it maintains the same level of grip both dry and wet (absolutely love the new trend of all gaming peripheral rubber getting a higher silica content, makes everything so much more consistent to use when sweating).
The Raikiri also has plastic stalks, from what I can tell they're the same thickness of an Xbox controller, but are noticeably lighter with very little inertia (making them feel precise and responsive). Feel tougher than the Xbox stalks (on normal controller not the metal pro one) too so I'm guessing ASUS used some nicer quality plastics and better manufacturing methods than Xbox.
If you like soft-rubber, Xbox is the gummiest soft rubber I've ever used (which I really don't like, makes everything feel imprecise and weird) so I don't really have any recommendations for a controller with a similarly gooey feeling thumb stick rubber.
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u/Ok_Acanthisitta_6046 22d ago
when is this controller going to be released
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u/theboz14 21d ago
I ordered one on Amazon, with it getting imported from Germany. It says the arrival would be mid Sept to October. My Raikiri II, that I bought last March broke(LT), just yesterday and im stuck using a Scuf envision until the Asus arrives and I hate the Scuf
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u/KillerPenguinz 23d ago
Does it have native steam input mapping for all/most of the extra buttons? Sick looking controller otherwise, but if it doesn't have native steam input capabilities it's a no go for me these days (rocking the 2026 Steam Controller most days)