Pwnage Stormbreaker review: Is it just a pale imitation?

The Pwnage Stormbreaker is the company’s first attempt at a premium magnesium alloy gaming mouse, but is it worth the $180 price tag?

Finalmouse has skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years with their magnesium alloy wireless gaming mice like the TenZ Starlight Pro, but its limited drop system has left many wanting a more accessible option.

Pwnage risen to the challenge with its first-ever premium mouse made from the same materials. Named the Pwnage Stormbreaker, the company is offering always-available colorways that make it easier to buy for many customers.

At $180, however, does it stand up against the competition? We have our hands on the Pwnage Stormbreaker and have put it through the wringer.

Key Specs

• Weight: 51g
• Connectivity: USB-C, 2.4ghz Wireless
• Buttons: 5
• Sensor: PAW 3395
• Maximum DPI: 26,000
• Polling rate: 2,000Hz
• Battery life: 120 hours
• Features: Adjustable sensor position, Magnesium alloy body
• Price: $169 Standard Edition, $179 Limited edition

Design

The Pwnage Stormbreaker is an absolutely gorgeous mouse thanks to its engraved design across the main mouse button, and its blend of color atop its shell.

The packaging could be a bit more premium to give it a better experience when unboxing, however. The mouse is unprotected from scratches inside of the box as Pwnage opted to not offer a foam cover or something similar. On top of that, the USB-A to USB-C cable is haphazardly placed underneath the plastic insert the Stormbreaker sits in alongside the grips and user manual.

Pwnage has limited the number of buttons on the mouse to just five, opting to make you awkwardly press the left back button, scroll wheel, and right mouse button to do on-the-fly DPI adjustments instead of adding a sixth button like Razer or Finalmouse’s options.

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There’s no Pwnage branding on the top of the Stormbreaker, which we quite enjoy. As a matter of fact, the only bit of branding on the mouse is hidden on the bottom between the front two PTFE skates.

The Pwnage Stormbreaker is covered in holes, which makes sense with its 52g superlight build. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the design, however. Some of the smaller holes trapped dust within a day of use, which isn’t very appealing when you consider the $180 price tag.

Flip over the Stormbreaker and you’ll be met with four skates on each corner of the mouse, which are available in PTFE or Glass. Here, you’ll find more holes, the power switch, the laser, and the screws to adjust the location of it.

The adjustable location of the Stormbreaker’s laser is quite unique to Pwnage, and it’s designed to help with aim and control in popular esports titles like the Valorant or CS:GO.

Not quite flex-free

Alongside the holes to accomplish the 52g build, Pwnage has made the Stormbreaker out of Magnesium Alloy, similar to Finalmouse’s offerings, and claims that it is a “flex-free” design. While the mouse is very solid, we can’t help but notice various issues with the build quality on our review unit.

The mouse as a whole does not flex, but the panel behind the mouse buttons absolutely does. So much, in fact, that the front left corner of the panel now sticks out from the side of the mouse and occasionally scratches our index finger when in use.

Pwnage has designed the Stormbreaker for right-handed users, and we found it fits in our hands really well. All of the buttons are easily accessible, and the mouse can be comfortably used in palm, claw, and fingertip grip styles.

DPI stages and battery life on the mouse are identified by a red and green light laced inside the front of the mouse, which is a unique design choice, but it’s rather hard to see when you’re in a lit room.

Battery life woes

Pwnage claims that the battery can last up to 120 hours, which shouldn’t be hard to accomplish for a mouse with no RGB, but our testing proves that it falls quite a bit short.

After charging the mouse up for the first time, the mouse began warning about low battery less than 48 hours later while only being used consecutively for 16 of those hours. We’ve gotten similar battery life when lowering the polling rate, too.

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The company also claims that the Stormbreaker can be charged in just two hours, which is much more accurate than the battery life claims, but it’s still far from perfect. It takes between two and three hours to charge for us using the included cable plugged into a USB 3.1 port.

It could be partially caused by bad firmware causing the mouse not to sleep properly, so we hope Pwnage issues an update for the mouse sooner than later.

Software

The software provided by Pwnage is quite simple, with just three menus to choose from to customize the Stormbreaker.

The main menu gives you the ability to choose buttons on the mouse to remap, although it’s limited to the options made available by the company.

The “Advanced” setting lets you set up eight DPI stages as well as adjust the polling rate, sleep setting, lift-off distance, and more. Everything’s clearly labeled and easy to adjust, which is nice. The Macro menu is self-explanatory as it provides a way to set up a custom macro or five on the mouse.

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There are no instructions on how to adjust the button function or create your own macro, which we would have preferred, but we figured it out just fine after a few seconds of messing around with it.

The Pwnage Stormbreaker software will be perfectly suitable for most users, offering the most basic customization features front and center.

Our biggest complaint, however, is the fact that it doesn’t provide a pop-up notification for low battery life, forcing you to rely on the hard-to-see flashing red light inside of the mouse.

Gaming Performance

When it comes to gaming performance, this is where the Pwnage Stormbreaker shines. Its lightweight and comfortable in just about any preferred grip, which makes it perfect for FPS games like Valorant or CS:GO.

We had zero issue with latency in our tests with either of the games, and tactile feedback from the Omron switches in the main mouse buttons allow us to be very confident in our shooting.

The Stormbreaker’s most unique feature is the adjustable sensor location, which is largely beneficial to FPS games. Moving it towards the front helps with speed and accuracy when fingertip gripping it as it gives a shorter tracking path.

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The same can be said for moving it backward or leaving it in the center as well, with palm and claw grips working the best for each respective sensor position in our testing.

The mouse is great in other game genres too, performing well in Cyberpunk 2077 and Only Up. Without a need for quick, accurate movements in the majority of gameplay for these games, the Stormbreaker doesn’t really stand out above other options like the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2.

We did have a minor issue of it not tracking very well on our leather desk mat, so we definitely recommend using a cloth or glass option with the Stormbreaker.

Should you buy it?

There are plenty of issues with the Pwnage Stormbreaker, most notably its mediocre battery life, questionable build quality, and lack of a dedicated DPI button.

The adjustable sensor location is something we’ve never seen in a gaming mouse before, and finding the right spot for the sensor does increase speed and accuracy, but it’s not quite worth the $180 price tag.

We’d recommend lower-priced options like the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 or Endgame Gear XM2we.

The verdict – 3/5

Pwnage has managed to make a unique gaming mouse with its adjustable sensor location. Unfortunately, it’s riddled with issues that prevent it from being the premium quality mouse that we were hoping for.