Roccat Vulcan II Max keyboard review: More than just RGB

Roccat’s gaming keyboard has been the most impressive in years. A visually stunning keyboard with an interesting aesthetic that stands out from the crowd. The Roccat Vulcan II Max continues that trend with a full-sized keyboard that boasts very nice RGB lighting.

There’s more to this keyboard than good looks. Carefully crafted for comfort and features, including features like the TITAN II optical switches and his Easy-Shift, it becomes a powerful tool for gaming.

We keep ourselves busy with work, games, etc. to see how well we can hold up against the competition.

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Out of the box, the Vulcan II Max is an interesting beast. It doesn’t feel as premium as other keyboards I’ve tried in this price range, but it’s cheap and doesn’t disappoint. When not plugged in, you don’t need to look much.

But when you plug the wrist rest into place and plug it in, things get interesting. Its wrist rest is certainly quite different from the norm. It’s a floppy, jelly-like thing that plugs into a few holes in the bottom edge of the keyboard (rather than clipping or magnetizing like many other boards). This design allows light to pass through the opaque body and illuminate your desk with a beautiful RGB glow.

The Vulcan II Max requires two USB-A connections to your gaming PC to function properly. Please make sure you have enough free ports before purchasing. This allows for RGB lighting, but also maximizes other features.

RGB focused design

• Translucent removable palm rest
• Raised low-profile keycap design
• Hardware and software lighting control
• Dedicated media controls

The Vulcan II Max is clearly an RGB focused design. Like all Roccat keyboards, this one has discreet keycaps and raised switch housings so you can easily see its brilliant RGB glow from multiple angles. There is also a small amount of space between each switch, which further aids in their shine. This means it’s much easier to clean than most keyboards because you don’t have to remove the keycaps.

However, some may be disappointed as these keycaps are ABS plastic instead of PBT doubleshot. ABS generally lets more light through than doubleshot keycaps, so it’s understandable why.

Also, each keycap is moderately curved so that it sits exactly where your fingers rest for a comfortable feel.

The downside here is that the ABS plastic is a little slippery on your fingertips. If you’re a sweaty gamer or have particularly oily fingers, this can cause problems, but we didn’t find any.

If you’re not a fan of ABS, don’t panic. The switches underneath the keycaps feature classic Cherry MX-style cross-hatching, so you can use your own custom keycaps instead.

In our opinion, this design strikes a good balance between comfort and beauty, and should not be an hesitation to purchase.

However, RGB lighting is very bright. Thankfully, this is adjustable, as are the lighting modes via hardware control (using FN + arrow keys) or Roccat Swam. It was bright enough during the day without any distractions, but at night it’s frankly too bright on the default settings.

The software has per-key lighting options so you can customize your own lighting or set different lighting for each profile (there is onboard memory for 4 different profiles for different uses ). I really like the standard AIMO intelligent lighting.

Competent gaming prowess?

• 1000 Hz polling rate
• 100% anti-ghosting full key (NKRO)
• 32-bit ARM Cortex M3
• TITAN II Optical Switch – Red Linear – 1.4mm Actuation, 3.6mm Total Travel

The Roccat Vulcan II Max is more than just looks. The keyboard is perfect for everyday use and gaming. It boasts some decent specs, including a 1000Hz polling rate and an optical switch.

You can choose brown or red switches, but red is the most logical choice for gamers. These red linear switches have a 1.4mm actuation point, so they respond to a light touch and are responsive enough for gaming sessions. The optical design means they’re accurate and built to last, so they shouldn’t disappoint.

Roccat seems to have improved the stability and housing of the switches on this keyboard over previous models. So less rattling and a more satisfying experience. Despite the discreet keycaps, there’s no excessive wobble or horrible noise to ruin your enjoyment while working or gaming.

Like all Roccat gaming peripherals, this keyboard has hidden potential that can be accessed via Roccat Swarm. One of them is Easy-Shift technology. This allows him to program his second layer of button actions by setting one key and opening the Easy-Shift layer to allow for more programming. If you press and hold that and the set key, you can do various things, such as create macros for use in games.

Of course, this is already a full-size keyboard, but this customization opens up even more custom key options to suit your personal needs. There are many secondary actions set as , but there are more possibilities.

Also handy are the media controls, such as the play button and volume buttons. So as a full-size keyboard, it’s certainly packed with features, and more than your average keyboard.

verdict

The Roccat Vulcan II Max is certainly a nifty keyboard with great styling and highlights. Not only does it look good, it is also comfortable and functional.

However, it’s fairly pricey and lacks some of the features you’d expect from such a high-end keyboard.For a little more cash, you could opt for a custom keyboard that beats out the Asus ROG Azoth or the equally awesome Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro. can. These keyboards have a lot of other things on offer for the money.