Because of their visually stunning design and distinctive aesthetic, Roccat’s gaming keyboards have become well-known over the past few years. The full-size keyboard on the Roccat Vulcan II Max is equipped with seriously impressive RGB lighting, making it no different. However, this keyboard’s aesthetic appeal is not all that it offers. It has been thoughtfully designed for comfort and usability, and it includes TITAN II optical switches and strong tools like Easy-Shift that make it a useful addition to any gamer’s toolkit. To see how the keyboard compares to the competition, we put it through its paces with a range of tasks, from work to gaming.

The Vulcan II Max might not impress you at first when you first take it out of the box compared to other keyboards in its price range. It’s by no means a cheap or disappointing product, though. Without being plugged in, the keyboard doesn’t seem like much. However, things really start to get interesting once you attach the distinctive, jelly-like wrist rest and plug it in. The wrist rest fits into the keyboard’s bottom edge so that light can pass through its opaque body and illuminate your desk with lovely RGB lighting. It’s important to remember that the Vulcan II Max needs two USB-A connections in order to operate properly, so make sure you have enough free ports before making a purchase. This not only turns on the RGB lighting but also makes other keyboard features available.

A clear emphasis on its RGB design can be seen in the Roccat Vulcan II Max. Its raised switch housing and low-profile keycaps make it possible to see the RGB lighting easily from a variety of angles. In addition, cleaning the keyboard without removing the keycaps is made simpler by the slight distance between each switch. The keycaps’ ABS plastic construction, as opposed to PBT doubleshot, may disappoint some users, but it allows more light to pass through. A nice curve is present on the keycaps as well, giving the fingers a cozy feel.

The ABS plastic keycaps on the Roccat Vulcan II Max have an impressive design, but they can be a little slick to the touch. This might be a problem if you sweat a lot or have oily fingers, but we had no issues. The switches, however, are compatible with Cherry MX style crosshatch keycaps if you prefer a different type of keycap. Extremely bright RGB lighting on the keyboard can be annoying in dimly lit areas. Fortunately, you can change the lighting mode and brightness using the Roccat Swarm software or hardware controls (FN arrow keys). Other useful features of the software include the ability to customize each key’s illumination and its various profiles. The default AIMO intelligent lighting is adequate and doesn’t need to be significantly adjusted.