Over the past couple of years, ROCCAT has been hard at work bringing us new levels of polish and unique designs with their keyboards and mice. One product line that has stood out is the Vulcan keyboard series. Their latest board in the Vulcan line, the Vulcan II, comes packed with all the functionality and quality we have come to expect from ROCCAT while still managing to dial-up the wow factor with this latest entry.
This full-size mechanical keyboard is a beauty to behold. One of the qualities of ROCCAT products is their ability to stand out in a crowd and on that front, the Vulcan II delivers. With two flavours to choose from, black with a black brush aluminium top plate or white with a silver brush aluminium top plate, the Vulcan II is easily recognizable in a crowd. The white version received for review is absolutely stunning. The aforementioned top place features a beautiful silver aluminium finish with no screws or rivets in sight, making for a clean, unified look and design.
This low-profile board sits comfortably on the desk with a detachable palm rest ready to add a layer of comfort to the setup. While I did appreciate that a palm rest was included with the Vulcan II, it was a bit underwhelming. There are two issues with it. The first is that it is constructed of hard plastic and is uncomfortable over long gaming sessions.
The second is that it is a bit too thin when compared to the height of the keys themselves. During testing, I found that, when using the included palm rest, I could never quite find a comfortable position for my wrists. Thankfully, as mentioned, the palm rest is completely removable for those that prefer a thicker padded rest.
“One of the qualities of ROCCAT products is their ability to stand out in a crowd and on that front, the Vulcan II delivers.”
It also comes with an attached USB Type-A braided cable with plenty of length to reach your computer. I do wish that this was a detachable cable simply for convenience. There are situations where I would want to have a longer USB cable for my setup, and I am restricted with the Vulcan II without purchasing an additional USB extension cable. With so many boards moving towards a detachable cable, it does seem like a bit of an odd choice to have this one remain attached.
You’ll also find a nice media control centre located in the upper right of the board with dedicated controls for volume, pause/play and track skipping. The keyboard does a great job of keeping track of which program is playing audio, so whether you’re watching a video on YouTube or streaming music on Spotify, the Vulcan II can manage control of the source.
An interesting design choice that leans into this exceptionally clean aesthetic is to move the indicator lights, such as caps lock and number pad selection, to the lower trim of the faceplate. This frees up the surface area considerably compared to other boards and keeps things looking sharp and minimalistic. It plays well with the overall design and allows for more surface area to illuminate the RGB-supported keys.
This is actually a unique feature of the Vulcan series boards. Unlike most mechanical boards, the keycaps do not cover the entire key. Instead, the ABS keycaps rest on top of switches, leaving the sides exposed and allowing much more light to shine through. With the reflective surface of the aluminium top plate this results in a beautiful light show every time you fire up your system and is hands down my favourite aesthetic choice for a keyboard. For anyone wondering about customizing the keycaps, the Vulcan II absolutely supports a host of third-party caps. From my testing, they seem to be compatible with any keycap designed for a cherry switch.
“During game testing, the Vulcan II had no problem handling my frantic key-mashing while I died repeatedly in Remnant II.”
Speaking of switches, the Vulcan II is the first of ROCCAT’s mechanical keyboards to support the new Titan II Mechanical Switches. These switches are the second revision of ROCCAT’s Titan Mechanical series switches and offer some impressive stats. The Linear Red switches that came with this Vulcan II (Tactile Brown is also an option on the Vulcan II) have an impressive 1.4 mm actuation distance. This distance means that the point at which the board acknowledges a signal is impressively small.
In testing, the response was sensitive enough that everything felt smooth and quick but not so much so that I was making mistakes while typing. In fact, with full n-key rollover and anti-ghosting, I never worried about the board accidentally registering a double input because of the small actuation distance.
For those new to n-key rollover or NKRO for short, it is essentially the ability of the keyboard itself to register every keystroke and send these signals to the PC vs the PC trying to keep track of all these signals. Essentially you can face-roll the keyboard and be assured that every keystroke is accurately captured and reported to the system. Likewise, anti-ghosting ensures that every keystroke is recorded in the order in which they are pressed.
In testing, the ROCCAT Vulcan II felt great to use. Typing is a breeze. Quick and responsive, the Linear Red Titan II switches have no problem handling anything thrown at them. During game testing, the Vulcan II had no problem handling my frantic key-mashing while I died repeatedly in Remnant II. The only downside here is that I can’t blame my poor playing on the keyboard. The Linear Reds are also quite quiet for mechanical switches. While there is some click, as is the nature of mechanical boards, it is softened heavily compared to the cherry reds I have on another board in the office.
A final note on the switches that adds to the smoothness of each keystroke is that they come pre-lubed from the factory. This once again results in an incredibly smooth typing experience overall and adds to the premium feel of the ROCCAT Vulcan II. Additionally, you can expect to get lots of life out of these Titan II mechanical switches as they are rated for 80 million keypresses. While I’m still testing for those 80 million keypresses it’s safe to say you’ll get lots of action out of the Vulcan II.
“…the Vulcan II is a great mechanical keyboard that offers precision and comfort for gamers.”
As with many products coming out of ROCCAT, the Vulcan II also features its signature EASY-SHIFT[+] functionality. I first encountered this tech on the excellent Krone XP mouse earlier this year. This technology is designed to provide a second function layer to the keys on your board that are fully customizable from within ROCCAT’s SWARM software.
This means that by holding the designated Easy-Shift[+] key you can have keys provide a second function during gameplay or even while working. It’s actually quite handy while gaming and I found it incredibly useful for keys like R and E that traditionally take on the role or activate and reload in most titles. With Easy-Shift[+] these two keys could also double as melee and grenade making for less travel distance for my fingers while playing. It does take a bit of getting used to but once you understand the principle of the software, the sky’s (or at least the amount of keys on the board) the limit on how you can customize your keyboard experience.
As for customization, all of this is handled by the aforementioned SWARM software. While I would be the first to admit that I generally dislike most peripheral customization software, SWARM is the exception. It has a user-friendly interface, is easy to navigate and use and works well. It also offers an exceptional amount of customization. In fact, everything from macro key assignment to RGB controls is found here. Additionally, you can save up to five profiles in the software, four of which can be saved directly to the board.
The Vulcan II also supports ROCCAT’s AIMO software. This illumination management software essentially takes the work out of syncing up your AIMO-enabled devices and creates a beautiful light show by learning from your keyboard and mouse habits and then creating a lighting experience to match your activity. It works great on the Vulcan II. It becomes even more interesting when you start connecting other devices like the Krone XP. Seeing these devices synced up and glowing looks pretty nice.
The Vulcan II from ROCCAT is a beautiful keyboard. Its unique design helps it stand out in a crowd and its Titan II mechanical switches help elevate it above many other boards in its class. While there are a few minor issues, overall the Vulcan II is a great mechanical keyboard that offers precision and comfort for gamers. Priced at 149.99 USD, it’s hard to beat the quality and uniqueness of this mechanical gaming keyboard.
