Subscribe For Lower Ping: Video: Code: BEAKSMy Socials:Twitch. Azeron Keypad came out in 2020. Azeron Keypad 4t547 Azeron classic. Left hand version This thing is designed as a gaming keypad. 26 programmable keys; Adjustable for finger length. Amazon's Choice for azeron keypad Razer Tartarus v2 Gaming Keypad: Mecha-Membrane Key Switches - 32 Programmable Keys - Customizable Chroma RGB Lighting - Programmable Macros - Classic Black 4.4 out of 5 stars 7,602. 7,305 likes 499 talking about this. Azeron gaming keypad is made for easier and more enjoyable gaming for casual gamers.
Aerzon Keypad for Fortnite
I no longer play fortnite. However I still subscribe to beaks – you should like, subscribe and hit the bell. He ran some content with this.. thing – the Aerzon Keypad and how he uses it in fortnite. It is not precisely a new idea, a keyboard style input device that is meant to be more comfortable. In the first video beaks from fortnite is primarily concerned with what this thing was, perhaps why you would swap to it, etc. To be totally honest I flicked through it, thought that it looked like a new keyboard/claw style thing and discounted it. Closed tab. Again this is not a new idea, these keypad gaming product things have existed for the better part of two decades in various iterations. They have generally been trash for FPS. You get less keys but you get an 8-way directional thump stick which is useless in FPS. You really need to be able to go A -> D quickly in shooters for many reasons. So you are left with a tiny keyboard with palm rest, maybe a scroll wheel or other widget. Even here these had some limited benefit over a traditional keyboard – if you wanted to use macros the macro assignable keys were generally in a better location than traditional macro keyboard macro keys. The thumb stick on the Aerzon is a true analogue stick – this is potentially even more useless in traditional FPS than the older style keypads 8-way sticks. You don’t need to move like this in FPS, its simply unneeded and the loss of instant input from a button/key is a hindrance. However beaks thinks this is important, coming from a controller background.
Lets preface the rest of this with something important – I have never used this and have no intention of using it or a similar style of keypad. However Beaks leaves his audience hanging on a verdict. Not sure if this is because he does not want to cop flak for recommending such an expensive product or what but the second video is essentially an “update on using this thing” rather than “you should buy it”. Evidently he likes it because he has stuck with it/seems intending to keep using the Aerzon Keypad in fortnite.
What is the Aerzon keypad for fotnite?
Lets just rip this from the Aerzon website because they explain the concept quite well.
We have made a gaming keypad that helps to play PC games tremendously easy. Thumbstick is great for movement and frees your WASD fingers for easier mashing of fully programmable keys.
The primary differentiator here, which I am sure Razer and the other manufacturers will pick up on and integrate into their products in future if the Azeron stays popular – is the analogue stick. All the other things, the crazy looking buttons, the adjustableness, while nice are not all that different to other products. The “keys” sound like the are driven using mouse button switches rather than mechanical switches on a regular gaming keyboard. This might make using it nicer and ergonomics/comfort seem to be a big reason why Aerzon exist. This is not my interest – I want to know if it improves gameplay and gives an advantage. Changing from a cherry key to mouse button style input will change things slightly but is not ground breaking. Interestingly the Aerzon people do not make much brouhaha over the analogue thumbstick. Beaks did, however. The premise is simple – with a keyboard you can move in 8 directions (A, AW, W, WD.. and so on) but with a controller type WASD input you can move.. 360 degrees. If W is 0degrees and WD is 45degrees with an analogue thumb stick you can also move forwards at 42degrees, 15degrees and so on. The Aerzon Keypads analogue thumbstick easily facilitates greater freedom of movement direction than a traditional keyboard WASD setup.
This, combined with freeing up your other four fingers is why it is potentially awesome for fortnite. To be completely honest as soon as I saw it (the second time in the second video) the potential was there. It is obvious. Stick movement on one finger and then free up all the other fingers for building and editing.. and this was before I even realised that the analogue stick was analogue or that existing keypad style gaming peripherals did not have analogue sticks. I have forever discounted these gaming keypads as garbage (and rightfully so) but fortnite might be the one game where it makes sense to a degree, primarily because there are many other binds and players need to press the binds much more often than changing weapons in older FPS. The building and edit keys are similar level of importance as movement, possibly more.
And part of the reason why the Azeron keypad and similar is possibly useful in fortnite is also player movement. Movement is not as important as in other FPS titles. Strafe is very muted compared to forwards and back movement. You do not need to juke back/forth as you would in other titles. When building 90s players typically hold forward and strafe a bit, this is not movement involved. Strafe aiming is not as much of a thing due to weapon mechanics and the slow strafe speed in general.
So lets recap the why: Players can move with one finger (thumb) while freeing up the rest of their keyboard hand for building and editing tasks. If you think this sounds interesting then the Azeron keypad may be for you. The older products that are similar from Razer and elsewhere have never taken off for FPS. This is because the thumbpad is not really suitable for FPS gaming. Some examples of things that are simply impossible on an analogue thumb stick or 8 way D-pad : You cannot press A+D, release one and get instant movement in the opposite direction. You cannot change from W to S instantly, you always have to go across the thumbsticks center. You cannot add A/D input to W/S by pressing a button without taking the time to rotate the stick to the correct position. This, imo, is why they are not good for FPS, particularly Arena FPS that I personally prefer. Having said that Fortnite movement is primarily forward with less side to side or back movement. This is because forward is significantly faster than strafing. So from this perspective using a thumb stick is possibly acceptable here. On top of this Fortnite also has building/editing, which requires a decent number of keys as well as fast inputs..
Fortnite seems to have (purely by accident) created a game that can finally make use of a gaming keypad like the Azeron with thumbstick at a higher skill level. The thumbstick is ok for movement because the movement is dumbed down, meanwhile freeing up four fingers for building/editing makes a huge amount of sense.
I think Beaks 360degree movement bit is off base, not important and potentially a negative. He is a converted console player and misses that aspect. If he could show examples where walking movment in 360 degrees is useful it might shed light on this aspect. Until then my assumption is he likes it purely because of his console background.
What is the difference between an Aerzon and other keypad type devices?
The main difference is the Analogue stick and this is the primary reason you would want this product over others if you are considering switching from a keyboard. Obviously the Azeron may be more ergonomic, have different keys/switches from other gaming keypads but overall from a gameplay advantage perspective it is the separate analogue thumbstick. This is the most important aspect of the product. Azeron – if you offered a keyboard style product with an analogue thumb stick I imagine it would take off.
Everything else is icing on the cake, or not, depending on your view of things. Even this analogue thumbstick may only be icing and not really all that interesting. The best aspect is thumb for movement, fingers for building/editing always being free.
Should you get the Azeron Keypad for fortnite?
This is the question that Beaks should have answered. Based on the above I would say no – you should not drop 120 Euros (~135USD) on a device that you may or may not like whos sole differentiator from a gameplay advantage is an analogue thumbstick. For starters there are other alternatives, while not having analogue sticks will give you a good indication if you can get used to or even like this type of setup without spending this much coin. Plus there seems to be a significant wait for the Azeron keypads. Going into writing this I was not aware that the old style keypad products did not have analogue sticks and was ready to get out the pitchforks straight away. As it turns out the Razer products have the equivalent of 8-way D-Pads, which in my opinion would give users a clear indication of what playing with this type of setup would be like, you may even prefer one.
Alternatives to the Azeron Keypad
In the early 2000s I dropped $900AUD on a 9*12inch Wacom graphics tablet, partially for work but the main driver was to see if it could be used for improved aiming in Unreal Tournament. Short version : it was overall a waste of money. If you are interested in playing with this type of peripheral I would strongly suggest looking for a second hand Razer product off ebay or Amazon as they are significantly cheaper.
Razer Orbweaver gaming keypad at amazon
Razer Tartarus gaming keypad at amazon
Razer Nostromo gaming keypad at amazon
The Nostromo was originally a Belkin product that Razer picked up.
There are other Razer products as this idea has been around for almost ten years. Interestingly looking on aliexpress and taobao there are not really any cheap knock off versions of these products. The offbrand gaming keypads that do exist omit the thumb stick entirely.
But wait Logitech G13 Alternatives?
At this point I had basically finished the article and was ready to post, but went on a bit more of a deep dive on Amazon to see if there was anything else. This turned up a few other options which are not ideal but do have analogue thumb sticks. Depending on your luck these may weigh in at less than the Azeron and they are also keyboard style products rather than.. insane mouse button spider looking things.
The first is an old Logitech product called the G13. This appears to have been out of production for over 10 years but many are available on ebay for reasonable (and unreasonable) prices. It also has ~1500 reviews and a four star rating on Amazon, so it was much loved. Don’t let the crazy prices dissuade you, they aren’t selling at $600USD. This product likely died since before fortnite there was little reason/demand for a thumbstick as movement in an FPS. If you are a fan of the Logitech G13 then the Azeron Keypad is a possible alternative for you.
The second product is newish and still in production from what I could see – if anything there is a 2016 version and a newer 2019 version. So it is still being updated. Say hello to the Hori TAC Pro Type M2 Gaming Keypad and mouse combo. Bit of a mouthful but there you go. Hori usually make high quality fighting game control sticks, so this is a bit of a departure from what they usually do – however they are a solid brand and the product seems to have decent reviews and support (refreshed recently). It has an analogue thumb stick which is what we are looking for. Obviously you get a (likely) garbage mouse so you are shelling out for stuff you probably won’t use, and it is intended for PS4 (but supported by PC) as a gamepad replacement for FPS there. Personally this would be my choice if I wanted to try one as it looks the most like a keyboard but still gives analogue thumb stick functionality.
The third product is not a keypad or gamepad. It is a mouse. The underlying concept here is to move direction keys off the majority of your non-mouse fingers. The Lexip Pu94 Mouse manages to achieve this by adding an analogue thumbstick to the side of your mouse. In this setup you would be using your right hand for aiming and for moving while your left hand/keyboard hand is freed up for everything else. Personally this sounds horrible but if your goal is to put movement onto a thumb stick.. well it achieves this.
Finally I would be interested to try to DIY something like this using a traditional controller analogue stick rather than this slimline version. This could then be mounted somehow just below your keyboard or to the side of you numpad. Maybe.
Lastly I would be interested in how useful simply putting +forward on a mouse key bind would be, freeing up all your fingers to build/edit when you only need to go forward. Or using pinky finger for forward and having other three fingers+thumb resting on building/edit binds rather than strafe+jump.
So to recap – I am unsure if an analogue thumb stick gives much benefit over an 8 way D-Pad found on the current Razer models but the idea of removing movement from WASD and freeing up fingers for building/editing is solid and if you can get used to it an obvious winner.
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“Veyhi,” she nodded, beaming a glad but dutiful smile his way. “Your leave from us did last longer than anticipated, cousin. Still… I am told it was to our Lady’s benefit… that the entire Maidom owes you and yours a great debt for your work across the Zecktaf’s ridges. ”
“Of that I cannot be certain. Very few of the Deebanaarie clans that far out agreed to meet with us, let alone join us for the sake of a peaceful future for the realms.” For the briefest of moments a shadow seemed to wash over his face, hardening his features as his smile faded. Then he spied Harper’s face, plastered with a grin of her own as she peeked out from behind a nearby bookshelf, her gaze going beyond Arteth to where the footfalls of an all too familiar gait drew ever closer at his back. Turning with a renewed grin of his own he added. “I am however certain Captain V’el will be glad to hear this one cease his constant reminiscence of his favourite palace seamstress.”
Vereena stepped aside as Tobias and Harper approached each other.
“Harper... I mean Ka’eem My Lady…” his smile was one of reverence. It was clear he couldn’t help but allow himself a moment to soak up her presence. “I am so glad to be back!” He had his arms around her before she could get a word out and though eyebrows were raised, none around them spoke.
“Tobias,” Vereena muttered through her smirk, as she put a hand to his shoulder and gently separated the pair. “We are all most pleased to see that you did not perish on the journey.” Grinning from ear to ear he nodded, “Yeah… It’s real fucking good to see you too.”
The slightest giggle of excitement escaped Harper before she regained her composure enough to tear her gaze from his. “The council are convening.” Sandra Harper turned to Vereena, “Your Mai Mai awaits.”
Almost two whole cycles had passed and Crizoleth had changed a great deal since that day they’d reclaimed it in the name of all Azeronians. Yet Tobias knew from his last return to this great palace that for all the changes undergone in recent times the Great Hall itself maintained a distinctly Deebanaarie air about it. The intricately carved, dark rock walls, coupled with the room’s size, forced a lengthy walk from the equally imposing double doors to the oversized throne. Before Leyavanya’s return that walk had almost always been under the scrutiny of other nobles.
Determined to spare visitors such discomfort, and herself the wait, Lilly met many of her guests at the great hall’s entrance - an action unheard of under previous rule.
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Tobias barely noticed the difference, Lilly seemed to have shot up a whole half a foot since he’d last laid eyes on her.
She and the classmates had brought many changes to this world. Most, albeit were unintended; like in the earliest days of Lilly’s reign when local youths attempted to replicate the pink streak already dyed into her hair before arrival in the realm. Lacking anything resembling a cosmetics industry to turn to, or any previous notion of colouring hair on anything besides livestock, all manner of home concocted solutions were devised. Whether that same bubble-gum pink had ever been achieved was debatable, but a variety of other colours were, with varying degrees of success, which ranged from impressive to the outright entertaining. At least Lilly and her friends thought so when talk of the trend inevitably reached the palace.
Lilly even began toying with the idea of trying out some of the solutions as her own pink began to fade. The idea faded far swifter than the streak itself. When it became apparent, as such things often did, that these stories were mostly reaching court and council because older Azeronians were considerably less impressed. Most of the objections were meaningless to Lilly. To her mind Azeronians attached entirely too much significance to hairstyle, and the clans clung to too many rigid stipulations. At first it had seemed she would blithely rebuff any such complaint. She certainly wasn’t willing to make any officially restricting statements based on concerns of distraction and productivity from a hand-full of Shaylars and Shentis.
Two cycles on and any in-depth discussion with Lilly on the topic would reveal her opinions on the rigidity of hairstyles here had barely shifted. However, some of those devised concoctions turned out to be less ingenious than dangerous. With reports trickling in of chemical injury; nothing too major at first: some rashes and burns. Then came suspected poisonings and at least two confirmed cases of blinding and very shortly afterward Lilly had stopped publicly espousing her views on hair colour.
Now much like Arteth and the rest of the troop behind them, Tobias was too busy being struck by the sight of this resplendent woman before him to notice much of anything else.
Everything about Lilly’s presence - her platinum blonde hair braided into an intricate up-do, her form fitting crème coloured gown, long enough to flow down and back to way past where her long legs had ended, her staunch poise and the determined line of her narrow jaw. Every inch of her told the tale of a girl becoming a lady.
Then her face lit up with the brightest of smiles and majestic as she looked, her grin revealed at least a hint of the mischievous charm Tobias had known in her when they’d arrived in Azeron. Leaping forward she wrapped her arms around him.
“Tobias!” she squealed, holding him tight. “Thank Tulavan you’re back safe.”
“As I keep telling you lot,” he beamed. “I can handle myself!”
“Yes, well shlakar or not I still worry letting you out there.”
“Yeah okay,” he joked. “Who else are you going to send off on these fools’ errands...”
“Oh shush!” Lilly punched his arm. “We all know how much you love being out in the thick of things. I mean really... as if you could ever be content again back home.”
“Sure,” he shrugged. “But it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be happy for a few more breaks like this one. Or you know, some kind of air support, maybe with at least the threat of a back-up nuke or three.” Squinting he lowered his voice for dramatic purpose, “better on the road accommodation would be nice too. Those tents they’ve got us sleeping in smell worse than the gilshmoken pens.”
“Well that explains your odour,” smirked Lilly. “I’ll be sure to put someone on it before you head back out.”
“Yeah… I’m a hold you to that Slater,” he grinned, then his face became serious as he asked. “I suppose there’s no word of my brother yet? I know the troop he left with are not due in for…”
Lilly’s entire demeanour changed before his eyes. Reluctance replaced her amusement and Tobias nodded.
“Something happened?” When she swallowed in place of an answer he shook his head “Lilly, where’s Terrence?”
“Tobes, calm down-”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! Where’s my brother?”
“He’s here okay… and safe, I mean I did have to insist the palace healer look him over-”
“The palace healer? Why? What happened?”
“Seems he had a bit of a run in with one of the Siilaenck nobles-”
“What sort of run in? Where is he? I want to see him!”
“S’ret stepped in before anything too major came of it,” Lilly’s hands went up, “honest he’s fine, just chill!” She nodded ever so slightly to the huge doors. “Besides the council are convened. They have expectations.”
“So! I’m just a shlakar! They have Arteth! He leads the troops and has V’el’s report! What can I tell them that he can’t?”
“All I know,” she shrugged. “Is they have questions for the both of you...”
“Right now, Slater? Seriously? I have to see Tez. You tell them I don’t have any answers for them until I’ve seen my brother. No, you know what... On second thoughts,” he shook his head, “I’ll tell them my fucking self.”
“Oh hey… Wait!”
Tobias didn’t. He was past her and the guards before anyone could stop him; pushing open the huge doors to the Great Hall.
Expecting to stomp straight through and on into the council chamber, he burst, in all bluster and was immediately deflated by the sea of smiling faces greeting him. Most were familiar, including the ‘convened’ council dotted about and his grinning friends at the forefront of the crowd. As one, they gave a roar of excitement that was obviously meant to sound something like “SURPRISE!”
Front and centre—not looking the least bit injured—was Terrence, grinning with a level of mirth that only a twin could achieve.
Above their heads hung a cloth banner painted crudely with the words: Walcame Heme! - followed by a bunch of semi familiar Azeronian symbols.
“Aah fuck!” Tobias muttered with obvious relief as Lilly turned back to him with a sheepish grin.
“I tried to tell you he’s fine,” she smirked. “Course I probably should have remembered I’d given my word on keeping this whole surprise party thing quiet, before I opened my mouth about the healer.” Shrugging she said, “But a Queen can’t just go around ignoring popular demand,” then flashing her teeth at him added, “especially when that demand is for celebration!”
A second later Terrence was throwing his arms around his brother, who just about managed to get out a “I see those language classes of yours are going real well…” as he nodded up to the banner before being dragged off into the crowd.
Catching sight of Arteth and the obvious confusion on his face, Lilly put a hand to his shoulder, “seems most of the palace feel your troops deserve some serious recognition for your efforts. You are all heroes to our people cousin... They wanted to celebrate you.”
“We lost many good warriors at the Zecktaf Du’mir my Lady, I see no reason to celebrate... all in all our journey was a-”
“Arteth!” Lilly’s tone was gentle but firm. “Celebrating a safe return is another one of those human customs I am not willing to leave behind,” her eyebrow rose as she poked him repeatedly in the chest adding, “so how’s about you do us all a favour and at least try to loosen up, just this once… have a good time.”
His head began tilting slowly to the left, but seeing her eyebrow on the move again his arm went to his chest and straightening up he nodded, “of course Mai Mai.” Turning back to the handful of his troop who had followed them into the great hall he threw a non-too convinced shrug their way adding, “Cat ya vac...”
For the briefest moment they all stared blankly back at him then he barked “Deng Mei natuii... Cat ya vac inst!” and moving as one, they all shuffled forward, each saluting Lilly in passing.
When they too had disappeared into the crowd, Lilly’s smile returned as she took her cousin’s arm adding, “Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time for your usual doom and gloom debriefing later. Right now... well... I’m told the people want very much to dance the night away.”
“Dance? Perhaps you are mistaken, our people dance for far fewer reasons than your-”
Before he could finish a small group of Da’ariel and Deebanaarie struck up a beat on crude yet surprisingly well turned out instruments. There were drums and drummers of various sizes, several flautists playing several types of hand-carved flutes and even some sort of huge xylophone with two Da’ariel and one Deebanaarie whacking it with knobbly clubs: to pound out a steady rhythm, which had the floor humming.
Others in the crowd around them began to shake and shimmy while a handful nearest the band bounced around like wild things, a sight which resulted in Arteth’s entire brow rising. “There is indeed something very wrong with this picture.”
“Yeah well, it can’t be as wrong as that sentence sounds coming from your mouth.”
“Have our people forgotten they are Azeronians? Warriors of the-”
“They’re remembering how to enjoy themselves,” she steered him into the thick of the revelry adding, “and I’m ordering you to do the same. Besides, you’ll also be surprised how much our people can forget since Baxter taught them how to brew the drelga ale into a rather convincing liquor.”
Initial resistance to the new laws had at first seen the additional housing clumped together along the outskirts of even this deprived area, but as more Azeronians flocked to the city every day, time, ale and circumstance had mellowed the inhabitants significantly. The Dumiie and Lothael no longer protested every newly erected abode. Instead, the older generations seethed with—mostly quiet—resentment as their new Vaelta and Shukaii neighbours respectfully side-stepped them in the streets. While the youth from both sides, caring less for the old ways, began developing a new found respect for one another’s strengths and tribulations. They would congregate regularly outside of working hours, drinking around forbidden campfires and mingling unreservedly well out of sight of their elders.
Such was the case now, while those highborn nobles in the Palace—obligated to entertain Lilly’s desire for a party—engaged in the stilted revelry of those who would rather not brush shoulders, many of them attempting to dance for the first time in their lives. These lower caste youths had no such qualms. Knocking back ale by the tankard and dancing around their fires with a fervour that was only surpassed by the enthusiasm with which they received Baxter’s newest beverage: the potent liquor he’d distilled from a mixture of his own drelga ales.
Officially their meagre privileges didn’t cover such frivolity. The old laws had been written in such a way that the higher ranks had first pick of everything from necessities to luxuries, the latter of which rarely made it this far down the hierarchy. Unofficially Baxter always brewed more ale than he reported and saw to it a fair portion was smuggled away from the palace long before the Magister in charge of distribution had time to count and consign the casks to the city’s handful of sanctioned dispensaries.
If these young Azeronians knew the efforts he went to they would probably be hailing his name as they downed his latest offering. He was however, more cautious than that, so instead they raised their tankards chanting, “Lek Gaeldren, Lek Cemvar,” in honour of the only two names they knew to thank for the continued bounty always delivered under the cover of darkness.
None among them had ever experienced alcohol like this new batch before. Far removed from the rulocki grog they were once accustomed to, it had a sickly sweet aroma and went down smooth and hot. Despite eliciting coughs and even some gagging the first time the flagons made the rounds, it had a distinct flavour that paired well with their charred pa’lellies and packed a punch they couldn’t have foreseen.
After a couple of hours’ revelry, their tongues were accustomed to the taste but their heads were swimming. Slowly the crowd began to disperse, some wandering away to vomit in the privacy of alleyways, while others, trying to make it home, passed-out in them.
Many remained around the embers of the fires, either because they’d moved onto other drinks or because they were too intoxicated to get up. None among those left could see or walk straight, let alone stand. They certainly weren’t prepared to deal with the liquor’s additional properties, when a forgotten flagon of it was stumbled into and, still sealed, rolled onto the glowing embers. It lay there unnoticed just long enough to heat up far past boiling point, until the pressure inside the container reached critical levels. It exploded with such force, the fire grew tenfold larger than it had originally been; engulfing those nearest in a flash of green flames as the whole district was jarred awake by a tremendous bang.
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