Roccat Vulcan 121 Keyboard Review – Total Gaming Addicts

9.5

Stunning, satisfying and all around a brilliant piece of hardware

The Good

Aluminium face
Stunning styling and premium feel
Amazing lighting
Sturdy construction
Super-satisfying typing experience

The Bad

Rubbery and unstable media buttons
Hard plastic palm rest

Manufacturer: Roccat
Model: Vulcan 121
Type: RGB Gaming Keyboard
Supplied by: Roccat

About

FEEL THE IMPACT
The Vulcan is a precision gaming tool that lets you sense its performance from the first glance and the first keystroke. Developed following the renowned principles of German design and engineering, it is the best keyboard ROCCAT has ever built.
The game-changing Titan Switch
The Titan Switch is equal parts mechanics and firmware. On the mechanical side, it features a host of design evolutions that fill every keystroke with reliability and consistency. Its special housing reinforces the structure of the switch to minimize side-to-side wobbling and make every press feel more sturdy and solid. The housing is also transparent to maximize the effect of AIMO illumination. Another important development is the debounced switch contact. When the switch is actuated, the mechanics have been optimized to produce a cleaner signal with far less chatter during electrical contact. As the contact stabilizes faster, the key stroke can be read faster.
This innovation allows the re-worked firmware to reliably read the Vulcan’s presses at a much earlier point after actuation – considerably faster than competing keyboards – more responsiveness and precision. The Titan Switch Tactile features an actuation point of 1.8mm for a total travel distance of 3.6mm. It is well balanced between crispness and speed – 20% faster than standard – and is silent yet with a noticeable bump. The Titan Switch Linear features an actuation point of 1.4mm for a total travel distance of 3.6mm. It is our fastest switch – 30% quicker than standard – and both crisp and responsive. Learn more about how we developed the Titan Switch here.
BUILT TO LAST
An anodized aluminum plate reinforces the Vulcan 121’s structural integrity and protects against wear and tear. The detachable palm rest and low-profile keyboard design improve ergonomics, making it suitable for long periods of game time. Keycaps are specially designed for easy maintenance. They match the spacing and surface area of traditional caps but feature a shortened height to make cleaning easy, complementing the Titan Switch’s dust-resistant housing perfectly.
AIMO ILLUMINATION
The Vulcan provides the best possible platform for the AIMO lighting engine. Each switch features an individually configurable, long-life LED capable of displaying 16.8M colors in a variety of special effects. Transparent switch housing means the multicolor lighting shines impressively and is spread evenly from every key.
AIMO represents both a lighting engine and an ecosystem at once. Its functionality grows based on the number of AIMO-enabled connected devices. It reacts organically based on your usage, presenting state-of-the-art illumination scenarios without the need for configuration.
PALM REST & MEDIA KEYS
The palm rest adds a subtle level of comfort and support. It’s ideal for gamers who tend towards lengthy sessions and want their performance in tip-top shape throughout. With mixer-style media keys and wheels you’ve got sophisticated function as well as comfort.

After the pleasure of using the Roccat KONE AIMO Remastered I was eager to see what the amazing minds behind that mouse could do with a keyboard. Flash forward a few months and I found myself the lucky recipient of the Roccat Vulcan 121 mechanical keyboard.

The looks of the Vulcan 121 are striking and hard to ignore. Stylish and sleek but still sharp and aggressive. The face of the Vulcan is made of anodized aluminium, making it extremely sturdy, and it gives it a premium feel that was cold to my first touch.

The aluminium face on the 121 is a brushed black satin colour, but there are also silver and white variants available depending on your preference.

Outlining the face is a polished and bevelled edge that really sets off the whole premium high-end feel. An added benefit is that the Aluminium face also seems to make the keyboard nearly entirely void of flex, and it feels extremely planted.

The remainder of the body is constructed of a hardy matt plastic. This surprisingly does not take away from the Vulcan 121’s premium feel, as the plastic itself still feels of an extremely high grade.

Returning to the face and possibly the most important feature, the Vulcan 121 features a really unique key set sitting on Roccat’s own Titan switches. The Vulcan I received to review came with the Titan linear keys that do not have the audible click associated with most mechanical keyboards.

I usually prefer a nice clicky switch and the feedback of the click fills me with satisfaction, but the Vulcan’s Titan linear switches have surprisingly provided my favourite typing and gaming experience so far. They may have no click but the noise they make paired with the sheer ease of each press makes for an absolutely divine typing experience.

The unique features do not end there, though. The Titan switch also features a completely clear casing so that it can make full use of the stunning Aimo illumination. Pairing the clear casing with the Vulcan’s short and almost flat keycaps makes for a stunning display. The RGB goodness flows out of the switches uninhibited and reflects off the aluminium body, making it a stunning sight that is a pleasure to customize.

This customization happens in the Roccat Swarm software. You have the general controls you’d expect including things like mode selection, including speed and colour palette adjustment, and the rest of the standard stuff, but you also have Intelligent Lighting.

In this mode, all of your Roccat AIMO products become linked and react to each other. When you click on your keyboard the effects could ripple across it and onto your mouse, and it’s amazing seeing all of your peripherals lighting and animating in unison.

Included on the Vulcan 121 is a full set of media controls, including three buttons and a volume dial. This is where my first dislike of this stunning board comes in. The three buttons that control the skip forward/back and play/pause functions are made of a soft rubber material. This allows a fair amount of illumination to pass through but also makes them the most unstable buttons I have used in a fair while. They have quite a bit of play in them and despite the satisfying click they make on actuation I’d have preferred a harder and more stable material for the buttons.

The dial, on the other hand, is perfect. It may seem at first to protrude too far, but with use and acclimation, it becomes extremely convenient. As you rotate it you will feel a tactile notching that allows you to fine-tune your audio click by click, making sure you have perfect control over your volume.

Cabling on the Vulcan 121 is fairly standard. Exiting at the centre of the back of the board is a non-removable braided cable that terminates in a USB-A connector, there are no routing channels on the bottom of the board but I usually find that I don’t use alternate routing even if it’s available.

Lastly, at the bottom of the board there is a slightly embossed glossy slot in the plastic. Although it adds to the design, it’s actually there for the palm rest to fit into. The Vulcan comes with a palm rest included, and it’s the second and last negative I have for the Vulcan. The palm rest is made of plastic with no form of softened coating on top, just hard, textured plastic.

I personally prefer to have a leatherette or some kind of plush covering over a hard surface and that really is the entire downfall for me. Otherwise, the palm rest not only looks very nice and attaches perfectly, melding into the Vulcan’s styling, but it also has a perfectly balanced magnetic attachment that I found easy to remove but never came off unintentionally.

Summary

The Vulcan 121 is a stunning board with amazing performance. As I expected after my use of the Kone Aimo remastered, the Vulcan excels when it comes to quality and looks. I would say that no matter what your usual preferences are, anyone who likes a good keyboard will struggle not to love the Vulcan.

The only things I would suggest as improvements are sturdier media buttons and a slightly comfier palm rest, but even with these very small cons, the Vulcan is a top contender to take up a permanent space on my desk (especially if I can get my hands on the Tenkeyless version).

Andy Miranda (OMA Monster)

Co-owner of TGA, Andy is part of our specialist hardware team and an avid streamer. He often uses the products we are reviewing on his stream, so if you have any questions, you can ask him directly on his broadcasts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. You will find him on Twitch under his username, Oma_monster. Pop by and give him a follow!