If you're looking for something to level up your gaming experience, then the Vulcan II Max from Roccat is a great option.
The Roccat Vulcan II Max is a high-end gaming keyboard that is designed for gamers who expect the best, both in performance and aesthetics. The keyboard is equipped with Roccat's AIMO lighting system, customizable keys, dedicated media controls, and anti-ghosting technology to ensure all your inputs are registered, making it ideal for both casual and competitive gaming. All of this is held together by a sleek and durable aircraft-grade aluminium frame, which genuinely looks super cool.
The Vulcan II Max isn’t for the faint-hearted though, coming in at a whopping £199.99, which is definitely on the higher end of the gaming keyboard spectrum, but still cheaper than what some competitors like Razer or Corsair offer. For example, their DeathStalker V2 Pro or K100 keyboards both come in at an eye-watering £249.99.
Roccat Vulcan II Max Keyboard Design
The Roccat Vulcan II Max Keyboard is impressive with both its build quality and its looks. The keyboard features an aircraft-grade aluminium frame that is both sturdy and stylish, providing a solid foundation for the keys.
The keys themselves are raised on a slight ergonomic incline, which makes typing way more comfortable than on a standard keyboard, and they are also easily detachable, making cleaning and maintenance a breeze.
The AIMO illumination system provides a beautiful, dynamic lighting effect that can be easily customised to match your personal style. As stated on their website, AIMO has double the refresh rate of a standard gaming keyboard, meaning all those lighting effects are going to look incredibly smooth and vibrant. On top of this, it comes with a detachable translucent wrist rest that works with the RGB functionalities to be able to light up alongside the keyboard with its own dedicated RGB LEDs.
Roccat Vulcan II Max Keyboard Features
The Vulcan II Max is packed with a lot of features, and all of them are controlled via the Roccat Swarm software, which was really easy to use.
I loved the simplicity of customising the RGBs on the keyboard, with each individual LED being modifiable, giving me full control over how this keyboard could look. The addition of an LED wrist rest is something I can’t recall seeing before, but it blew me away with how beautifully it blended with the rest of my setup. Also, the addition of different profiles for the keyboard was a great touch when I felt like swapping my aesthetic.
Another great feature of the Vulcan Max is the customizable key macros. These macros allow you to create and execute commands with just one keystroke, which can save you valuable time on tasks and improve your performance in-game. The macros are easy to set up and customise with the Swarm software, and you can store multiple macros and profiles for different games. This makes it ideal for gamers who want to be able to execute complex commands with ease or even those who might share a setup and want to have different control profiles for each user.
One feature I found myself actively avoiding however was the simulated sound feedback. This is offered in various different formats, with some sounding like a regular mechanical keyboard, and others being peculiar sounds like a laser beam.
I’m sure you might be thinking this could be cool, especially if you’re like me and you love your mechanical keyboards, but it actually sounded quite tacky, and the laser beam was just awful, to be frank. That said, it is turned off by default and I’m sure some people may like it, but it's not for me.
Roccat Vulcan II Max Keyboard Performance
Using this keyboard over the past couple of weeks has genuinely improved my gaming experience. When playing games like Valorant or Overwatch 2, I felt my inputs were swifter, and I was reacting and controlling my character much faster than I was previously. This may have contributed to my higher-than-normal win rate (not that my win rate is ever that high), compared to using my regular keyboard.
The keyboard's optical sensors, which are triggered as soon as the key is even tapped as the laser is broken, meant my inputs had near-zero input latency. Although we're talking literal milliseconds here, it genuinely made me feel more connected and synced to the game.
I also found that the Vulcan MII was able to pick up inputs that my mechanical keyboard wouldn't have (I type quite lightly), making my typing more consistent and accurate versus my daily driver mechanical keyboard, which helped improve my productivity when writing.
The macro keys were ultra-responsive and I never really had any issues using them. But, I will admit that I'm not really a World of Warcraft-esque player, so it’s not often I find myself using tons of different macros all the time. So, if you can’t cast your fireballs, your summons and your buff spells all at the same time (that’s what you guys do right?), forgive me. Although, I did set up a macro key which allowed me to play Megalovania on a guitar in-game, which everyone seemed to love.
Roccat Vulcan II Max Keyboard Final Thoughts
I had high expectations for this keyboard, but even then, I have to say, I was not disappointed. It’s hard to fault this keyboard, but as Roccat's new flagship keyboard, which has a flagship price tag to match, I can’t say I’m all too surprised.
The Vulcan II Max does a great job of packing really useful features into a beautiful piece of hardware, without it feeling tacky and over the top. Alongside the impressive Swarm software, this made for a really enjoyable gaming experience. All in all, this keyboard was a joy to use and review, and if your budget allows, I'd recommend picking up one if you want to up your gaming experience.
TL;DR: A beautiful and durable keyboard with a whole host of features making it perfect for competitive play, but with a price to match.
Score: 5/5
