Back in early 2021, Finalmouse was the first manufacturer using magnesium alloy instead of common ABS or PBT plastic on their Starlight 12. Ever since, not too many manufacturers have adopted this material, as it comes with several challenges in regard to the mechanical design, while not providing as much of a benefit in terms of weight saving. With the StormBreaker, Pwnage has taken up this effort nevertheless, and while flawed, mostly succeeds in doing so.

As with the Starlight, only the top shell is made of magnesium alloy, whereas the base is traditional plastic. This is mostly done due to magnesium not lending itself very well to wireless signal transmission, and it also makes the structural design a bit easier. In addition, holes are used very generously for weight-saving purposes: large triangles arranged in a rotated pattern are found on the sides, quadrangles of various sizes adorn the top, and the base too has its fair share of triangles. The result is a weight of just 51, landing a decent bit below the size-wise comparable Pulsar Xlite Wireless. Owing to the magnesium, the sturdiness of the top shell is commendable nonetheless, as actuating the side buttons by pressing below them is completely impossible, there is no creaking or flexing, and only a minor rattle when shaking can be noted. At the same time, the large triangles on the side in particular can be irritating. On most other mice using holes as a weigh reduction measure, the holes are shaped in such a way to make them as imperceptible and non-perturbing as possible. On the StormBreaker, this doesn't really apply, as the cutouts on the sides in particular are rather large in size, which, coupled with their somewhat sharp edges, can make them a a bit distracting during use. Moreover, although the PCB is covered in a protective coating, dirt buildup in the holes is inevitable as well.

The sturdiness of the magnesium shell also introduces a challenge related to the switch choice. Using a stiffer switch such as a Kailh GM 4.0 or 8.0 typically will not work particularly well even if binned for lower actuation force, as the magnesium doesn't bend as easily as plastic would. To counteract this, Pwnage has opted for main button switches from Omron with a very low actuation force, though this creates a somewhat uncanny result of buttons that feel oddly stiff and light at the same time. The shell lends them a certain degree of rigidity, yet actuating the switch takes very little force, and they can also be spammed quite easily. This isn't necessarily bad, but no doubt something that may feel odd at first. The side buttons are made of plastic instead and turned out very well. Pre and post-travel are kept to a minimum, actuation is very snappy, and the actuation point is perfectly even. That said, actuation is unusually stiff, which is something to keep in mind. The scroll wheel utilizes an encoder from TTC ("Gold") and performs according to expectations: excellent tactility allowing for perfectly controlled scrolling, albeit at above average noise levels, especially when scrolling up. For the record, there is no CPI button on the StormBreaker, which is why changing to a different CPI step is only possible through the software or by dedicating a different button to CPI cycling. In the quest for the lowest weight possible, doing without a CPI button isn't unheard of and has been seen on the Pulsar Xlite or Logitech G Pro X Superlight, too, but its omission is worth noting at least. Lastly, the feet are made of pure PTFE and are of very good quality.

A novelty introduced on the StormBreaker is the ability to adjust the sensor position. The sensor sits on its own PCB attached to rails, and by loosening and tightening the screws can be moved in either direction by roughly 1 cm along the vertical axis. This works well in practice, and allows one to alter the wrist motion arc according to one's preferences. That said, the default middle setting will likely already be the most convenient one for the majority of people.

The StormBreaker comes with a 300 mAh battery, which is a capacity often encountered on lightweight wireless mice. Whereas a competitor such as the Razer Viper V2 Pro musters 100 hours at 1000 Hz on the same capacity, the StormBreaker doesn't fare anywhere close as well. The battery life indicator in the software isn't particularly reliable, but reliable enough to estimate battery life at 4000 Hz to be around the 10 hours mark, which would translate to roughly 40 hours at 1000 Hz. There are many possible reasons for the lower than expected battery life, one of them being the main buttons running at 3.3 V, which is great for their life expectancy, but not so great for battery life. Charging at least is remarkably speedy at more than 0.5 A, though given the choice, I'd rather seen Pwnage optimize for capacity than speed. This is especially true since the charging cable isn't particularly flexible, and the lack of flexibility will be even more noticeable on a mouse this light. The stiffness of the cable is mostly due to the added shielding necessary to ensure signal integrity at higher polling rates, as the charging cable also doubles as an extension cable for the wireless dongle.

When it comes to performance, the StormBreaker operates at a high level. CPI deviation is nonexistent, general tracking fine, and motion delay low across the board due to smoothing being disabled entirely. Originally, the StormBreaker was restricted to 2000 Hz wireless polling, but a test firmware provided by StormBreaker allows up to 4000 Hz. Both 2000 and 4000 Hz hit the target interval of 0.5 ms and 0.25 ms on average, respectively, but polling stability has room for improvement. Wired has no issues in this regard, but in wireless operation, there is not a single fully stable polling rate, as off-period polls of various degrees of severity are encountered across the board, which may negatively impact perceived smoothness in-game. Coincidentally, 4000 Hz is the least offending in this regard, and approaches the performance seen on G-Wolves 4000 Hz mice, for instance. In terms of motion delay, results are very good but not excellent. Wireless motion delay at 1000 Hz is around 1 ms without MotionSync and 1.5 ms without MotionSync, whereas at 2000 and 4000 Hz, parity with the Logitech G403 (control subject) is achieved without MotionSync, and MotionSync adds a tiny amount of latency once again. In terms of click latency, things are looking better: At 1000 Hz in wireless operation, 0.9 ms are averaged, and 2000 Hz achieves an even lower value of just 0.6 ms. By default, slam-clicking, which describes inadvertent button actuation upon "slamming" (or gently repositioning) the mouse, is very easy to reproduce on the StormBreaker, but a dedicated slam-click prevention setting in the software gets rid of this without any drawbacks. Speaking of the software, I didn't have any issue with it during testing, as initial bugs have been squashed, and resource usage is pleasantly low.

Overall, the StormBreaker is a good mouse with not too many flaws. The main flaw, so to say, is the pricing. An asking price of $169 (or $179 for special colors) is steep for a mouse not coming from Razer or Logitech, and asking $10 more than for Logitech's already very pricey Pro X Superlight 2 is no doubt pushing it. Of course, all the additional efforts necessary to get the magnesium working had to be factored in, so this isn't about Pwnage taking a larger than average cut, but for the consumer, all that matters is the bottom line, and that one isn't looking too favorable for the StormBreaker. Still, for those looking for one of the lightest medium-sized, wireless, and right-handed ergonomic mice available, the StormBreaker is at the very least worth considering.