When Roccat rolled out its Vulcan 120 AIMO ($159.99) mechanical gaming keyboard, we were initially skeptical.
Our experience with the Roccat Horde AIMO ( at Amazon) before it was ho-hum; that model was a "mechanical/membrane" hybrid board whose media features didn't quite make up for the middling typing experience.
It made us wonder what Roccat would bring this time, given that the Vulcan 120 AIMO would also be based on a new kind of key switch cooked up by the company.
However, as it turns out, the Vulcan 120 AIMO is a much stronger effort, packing lots of gaming-keyboard goodness (dedicated media keys, a volume dial, RGB lighting) into a stylish, metal-plated body.
It's just short of a star, and if you're loyal to Cherry MX key switches, you'll want to give it a pass, but it's otherwise a good model for first-person shooters and other fast-paced gaming genres.
Should You Remember the Titans?
In a move out of the Logitech and Razer playbooks, the switches under the keycaps of the Vulcan 120 AIMO are proprietary.
They're not the gamer-favorite Cherry MX Reds (linear-press and quiet to type on), nor the typist's-preference Cherry MX Blues (tactile and clicky-sounding), but something of a cross between the two.
The Vulcan's switches, which Roccat dubs the "Titans," are soft-spoken but deliver a palpable bump 1.8mm deep into a keypress.
As for the key feel, the Titan switches are most similar to Cherry MX Browns (tactile and quiet), though the shorter actuation distance of 1.8mm (Titans) versus 2mm (Browns) makes a bigger difference than I expected.
Plus, with the Titan switches' 3.6mm total travel distance, you can press the keys down all the way faster than you would be able to with, say, the Cherry MX Brown-equipped HyperX Alloy Elite RGB ( at Amazon) mechanical gaming keyboard.
All in all, this makes gaming and typing a lighter-feeling, snappier experience, even if—like with Cherry MX Red keys—it may sacrifice a bit of accuracy in the process.
("Lighter" key switches tend to elicit more typos, until you get used to them.)
To put this speculation to the test, I pitted the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO and the HyperX Alloy Elite RGB against each other in a few rounds of the LiveChat Typing Speed Test.
With the Vulcan, I scored 79 words per minute and an accuracy rating of 97 percent.
Meanwhile, the Alloy Elite RGB's Cherry MX Browns netted me a grand total of 77 words per minute and an accuracy rating of 98 percent.
That suggests a negligible difference in speed and accuracy for the Titan switches and their most comparable rival.
With a little practice, I'd expect to get used to the switches and make up the difference.
Gaming at the Speed of Silence
The Vulcan 120 AIMO may be a full-fledged mechanical gaming keyboard, but without the optional wrist rest attached, it isn't as big as most.
At 1.26 by 18.19 by 9.25 inches (HWD), it's thinner than Corsair's 2-inch-thick K95 RGB Platinum ($170.96 at Amazon) flagship.
What's more, compared with Roccat's own Horde AIMO ( at Amazon) "membranical" keyboard I reviewed a few months ago, the Vulcan 120 AIMO is not nearly as wide or as thick.
Also thin is the single 1.8-meter braided USB cable that plugs into your computer.
Given this is a high-end gaming keyboard, it's a breath of fresh air to have just one port occupied.
The fact that it uses just one USB port is also indicative of the fact that, no, this keyboard does not have USB pass-through.
Then again, I've seen other keyboards—like the Razer Huntsman Elite ($199.99 at Amazon) —that occupy a pair of USB ports and still don't have USB pass-through.
A slick-looking keyboard with a metal-plated baseplate under the keys (kept in place by two screws), the Vulcan 120 AIMO looks like a menancing blade, one of those sharp kitchen knives that your parents told you not to touch as a kid.
Surrounding the faceplate is a plastic border that goes from a narrow bezel (on the top and sides) to a broader, more prominent presence on the bottom.
The underside of the Vulcan keyboard bears three sets of rubberized nonskid grips.
You will find two of these (the longest and widest) between its two extendable feet.
Smaller, narrower grips on two sides of the Vulcan's feet ensure the keyboard stays in place whether or not the feet are extended.
The stripped-down, spaced-apart keys themselves seem inconsistently shaped, at first glance; that is, until you realize that that's deliberate.
All of the letter, number, symbol, and function keycaps are sculpted concave, naturally accommodating your fingertips, while the other keys—among them Ctrl, Alt, and Fn—bulge out in convex fashion, making them easier to distinguish by feel.
The keyboard lacks dedicated macro keys, but a handful of shortcuts are paired with the function keys (as well as a few other keys), accessible by holding down Fn in combination with one of those keys.
F9 through F12, for instance, double as backtrack, stop, play/pause, and skip media functions.
Insert through Page Down, on the other hand, contain macros 1 through 6.
Aside from that, you can count on three dedicated media keys from the Vulcan 120 AIMO (mute, effects switcher, volume up button), in addition to a dial for changing the volume.
Speaking of which, the volume dial didn't work for me until after I installed Roccat's Swarm software (the utility that runs the keyboard, much more about which in a moment), rebooted my computer, and disconnected/reconnected the USB cable from my PC.
For anyone who's looking to use all of the features right away, out of the box, it's worth keeping in mind that installing the software is all but required.
You can use the keyboard without it; however, you will be stuck with the default lighting, and, as I mentioned before, the volume dial won't work.
While gaming, the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO allows me to execute commands on the fly without much delay.
The traits of the Titan key switches make this board ideal not only for shooters such as Far Cry 5 and Quake: Champions, but also for single-player games featuring intense combat.
In The Witcher 3, for example, you can snap-press "Q" quickly to cast signs at ghouls and berserkers, thanks to the agile switches.
Glowing Up Nicely
What will matter much more to some folks, though, is the bling, the ability to customize the lighting in any way that you see fit.
The good news is that the Vulcan 120 AIMO squeezes 16.8 million colors into its radiant arrays of LEDs.
You can customize the colors of up to six zones in Roccat Swarm.
(The board also supports per-key programmable lighting; the broader zone-based lighting is an option for the lazier of us gamers.) Open the software, and you'll be greeted with three main tabs: General Features, Key Assignment, and Key Illumination.
We'll come back to the first two.
In Key Illumination, you will see eight different lighting modes, which may overwhelm you at first.
The functions of these modes, however, are mostly obvious based on the names:
AIMO Intelligent Lighting reacts to your keypresses with a brief pulsing animation.
Colorwave is, as you'd expect, a wave of colors splashing from right to left across your keyboard.
Snake simulates a scaly reptile slithering around your keys.
Fully Lit is a static setting that sits motionless at almost full brightness.
Heartbeat 2.0 is similar to Colorwave, only the wave moves from right to left, then bounces back to the right before repeating itself from the left side.
Breathing 2.0 starts by lighting up from the top-center of the keyboard, then spreading out before contracting back to the top.
Fade FX sees the sporadic bouncing of light from one key to the next before tapering off.
Ripple FX looks like a fireworks exhibition happening beneath your fingertips.
Custom lets you choose the color, effect, speed, and brightness of each key.
In other words, there are a lot of canned and customizable lighting options.
And while some gamers will admire this functionality, others will reject it.
If you fall into the latter category, this isn't the keyboard for you.
Still, for those who enjoy the ostentation, the Vulcan 120 AIMO provides.
Otherwise, you can navigate to the Fully Lit setting, set each zone to white, and tune down the brightness to transform the Vulcan into a more sedate productivity keyboard.
Now, back to the other settings in Roccat Swarm.
The General Features tab contains three pinned categories: Sound Feedback, Character Repeat, and Reset Settings.
Sound Feedback is just gonzo: It lets you configure a sound to play through your speakers every time you press a key.
These noises range from a basic click to typewriter chatter to a "Sifi" sound, an incorrect spelling of Sci-Fi that may or may not be intentional.
Next, Character Repeat lets you change the delay that ensues after a key is held down for an extended period.
If you don't want a character to repeat itself during accidental key-holding, this will be useful for you.
This section also lets you change the rate at which the character repeats itself, as well as the rate at which the cursor blinks when you're not typing.
And Reset Settings, simply enough, restores the keyboard to factory settings.
Under Key Assignment, you can create your own custom macros to drag-and-drop onto a diagram of your keyboard.
In addition, you can assign basic functions, system and OS functions, internet functions, and numerous other ones to the keyboard the same way.
Under all three of the main interface tabs (General Features, Key Assignment, and Key Illumination) is a persistent Game Profiles section where you can create "slots" based on the games that you play.
You can either create your own slots that tie your settings to a particular application stored on your computer, or you can import profiles you've brought over from another computer.
Not that you would necessarily need to with the Vulcan, since it has onboard storage for saving macros and settings.
Long story short: Roccat Swarm gives you no shortage of stuff you can customize.
Moreover, despite its unflattering appearance, it's one of the more intuitive pieces of keyboard software I've used.
Everything you'll need to do is tucked under three tabs.
That's ideal when you don't want to spend a lot of time digging through settings to figure out how to light up keys, assign macros, or—if you're feeling silly—blast alien noises through your computer speakers as you type.
This Vulcan's Got a Grip on Gamers
By and large, the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO is much different beast than the Horde AIMO from just a few months ago, and that's a good thing.
This mechanical gaming keyboard uses its own flavor of switches, which will, of course, disappoint Cherry MX devotees.
But if you can get your hands on this keyboard for a test-type, the Titan switches may surprise you with their tactile feel, combined with their quiet sound.
It's a gaming keyboard that's just as suitable for tapping away in an office as for blasting buddies at home.
Plus, it has all the lighting and media features you would expect from a keyboard at this price.
All that keeps it from the top of our rankings is the lack of discrete macro/shortcut keys, which still leaves us partial to the Editors' Choice-winning Corsair K95 RGB Platinum ($170.96 at Amazon) .
After spending a fair amount of time with the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO, however, it hasn't left my desk yet.
It's safe to say that this board will be my daily driver for a while.
Pros
Stately look can serve gamers, productivity users alike.
High-quality switch feel and sound.
Dedicated media keys and volume dial.
Per-key RGB lighting, plus zone-based lighting.
View More
The Bottom Line
With custom Roccat key switches, elaborate RGB lighting, and a kitchen-sink feature set, the Vulcan 120 AIMO mechanical gaming keyboard is well worth the price of admission.
When Roccat rolled out its Vulcan 120 AIMO ($159.99) mechanical gaming keyboard, we were initially skeptical.
Our experience with the Roccat Horde AIMO ( at Amazon) before it was ho-hum; that model was a "mechanical/membrane" hybrid board whose media features didn't quite make up for the middling typing experience.
It made us wonder what Roccat would bring this time, given that the Vulcan 120 AIMO would also be based on a new kind of key switch cooked up by the company.
However, as it turns out, the Vulcan 120 AIMO is a much stronger effort, packing lots of gaming-keyboard goodness (dedicated media keys, a volume dial, RGB lighting) into a stylish, metal-plated body.
It's just short of a star, and if you're loyal to Cherry MX key switches, you'll want to give it a pass, but it's otherwise a good model for first-person shooters and other fast-paced gaming genres.
Should You Remember the Titans?
In a move out of the Logitech and Razer playbooks, the switches under the keycaps of the Vulcan 120 AIMO are proprietary.
They're not the gamer-favorite Cherry MX Reds (linear-press and quiet to type on), nor the typist's-preference Cherry MX Blues (tactile and clicky-sounding), but something of a cross between the two.
The Vulcan's switches, which Roccat dubs the "Titans," are soft-spoken but deliver a palpable bump 1.8mm deep into a keypress.
As for the key feel, the Titan switches are most similar to Cherry MX Browns (tactile and quiet), though the shorter actuation distance of 1.8mm (Titans) versus 2mm (Browns) makes a bigger difference than I expected.
Plus, with the Titan switches' 3.6mm total travel distance, you can press the keys down all the way faster than you would be able to with, say, the Cherry MX Brown-equipped HyperX Alloy Elite RGB ( at Amazon) mechanical gaming keyboard.
All in all, this makes gaming and typing a lighter-feeling, snappier experience, even if—like with Cherry MX Red keys—it may sacrifice a bit of accuracy in the process.
("Lighter" key switches tend to elicit more typos, until you get used to them.)
To put this speculation to the test, I pitted the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO and the HyperX Alloy Elite RGB against each other in a few rounds of the LiveChat Typing Speed Test.
With the Vulcan, I scored 79 words per minute and an accuracy rating of 97 percent.
Meanwhile, the Alloy Elite RGB's Cherry MX Browns netted me a grand total of 77 words per minute and an accuracy rating of 98 percent.
That suggests a negligible difference in speed and accuracy for the Titan switches and their most comparable rival.
With a little practice, I'd expect to get used to the switches and make up the difference.
Gaming at the Speed of Silence
The Vulcan 120 AIMO may be a full-fledged mechanical gaming keyboard, but without the optional wrist rest attached, it isn't as big as most.
At 1.26 by 18.19 by 9.25 inches (HWD), it's thinner than Corsair's 2-inch-thick K95 RGB Platinum ($170.96 at Amazon) flagship.
What's more, compared with Roccat's own Horde AIMO ( at Amazon) "membranical" keyboard I reviewed a few months ago, the Vulcan 120 AIMO is not nearly as wide or as thick.
Also thin is the single 1.8-meter braided USB cable that plugs into your computer.
Given this is a high-end gaming keyboard, it's a breath of fresh air to have just one port occupied.
The fact that it uses just one USB port is also indicative of the fact that, no, this keyboard does not have USB pass-through.
Then again, I've seen other keyboards—like the Razer Huntsman Elite ($199.99 at Amazon) —that occupy a pair of USB ports and still don't have USB pass-through.
A slick-looking keyboard with a metal-plated baseplate under the keys (kept in place by two screws), the Vulcan 120 AIMO looks like a menancing blade, one of those sharp kitchen knives that your parents told you not to touch as a kid.
Surrounding the faceplate is a plastic border that goes from a narrow bezel (on the top and sides) to a broader, more prominent presence on the bottom.
The underside of the Vulcan keyboard bears three sets of rubberized nonskid grips.
You will find two of these (the longest and widest) between its two extendable feet.
Smaller, narrower grips on two sides of the Vulcan's feet ensure the keyboard stays in place whether or not the feet are extended.
The stripped-down, spaced-apart keys themselves seem inconsistently shaped, at first glance; that is, until you realize that that's deliberate.
All of the letter, number, symbol, and function keycaps are sculpted concave, naturally accommodating your fingertips, while the other keys—among them Ctrl, Alt, and Fn—bulge out in convex fashion, making them easier to distinguish by feel.
The keyboard lacks dedicated macro keys, but a handful of shortcuts are paired with the function keys (as well as a few other keys), accessible by holding down Fn in combination with one of those keys.
F9 through F12, for instance, double as backtrack, stop, play/pause, and skip media functions.
Insert through Page Down, on the other hand, contain macros 1 through 6.
Aside from that, you can count on three dedicated media keys from the Vulcan 120 AIMO (mute, effects switcher, volume up button), in addition to a dial for changing the volume.
Speaking of which, the volume dial didn't work for me until after I installed Roccat's Swarm software (the utility that runs the keyboard, much more about which in a moment), rebooted my computer, and disconnected/reconnected the USB cable from my PC.
For anyone who's looking to use all of the features right away, out of the box, it's worth keeping in mind that installing the software is all but required.
You can use the keyboard without it; however, you will be stuck with the default lighting, and, as I mentioned before, the volume dial won't work.
While gaming, the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO allows me to execute commands on the fly without much delay.
The traits of the Titan key switches make this board ideal not only for shooters such as Far Cry 5 and Quake: Champions, but also for single-player games featuring intense combat.
In The Witcher 3, for example, you can snap-press "Q" quickly to cast signs at ghouls and berserkers, thanks to the agile switches.
Glowing Up Nicely
What will matter much more to some folks, though, is the bling, the ability to customize the lighting in any way that you see fit.
The good news is that the Vulcan 120 AIMO squeezes 16.8 million colors into its radiant arrays of LEDs.
You can customize the colors of up to six zones in Roccat Swarm.
(The board also supports per-key programmable lighting; the broader zone-based lighting is an option for the lazier of us gamers.) Open the software, and you'll be greeted with three main tabs: General Features, Key Assignment, and Key Illumination.
We'll come back to the first two.
In Key Illumination, you will see eight different lighting modes, which may overwhelm you at first.
The functions of these modes, however, are mostly obvious based on the names:
AIMO Intelligent Lighting reacts to your keypresses with a brief pulsing animation.
Colorwave is, as you'd expect, a wave of colors splashing from right to left across your keyboard.
Snake simulates a scaly reptile slithering around your keys.
Fully Lit is a static setting that sits motionless at almost full brightness.
Heartbeat 2.0 is similar to Colorwave, only the wave moves from right to left, then bounces back to the right before repeating itself from the left side.
Breathing 2.0 starts by lighting up from the top-center of the keyboard, then spreading out before contracting back to the top.
Fade FX sees the sporadic bouncing of light from one key to the next before tapering off.
Ripple FX looks like a fireworks exhibition happening beneath your fingertips.
Custom lets you choose the color, effect, speed, and brightness of each key.
In other words, there are a lot of canned and customizable lighting options.
And while some gamers will admire this functionality, others will reject it.
If you fall into the latter category, this isn't the keyboard for you.
Still, for those who enjoy the ostentation, the Vulcan 120 AIMO provides.
Otherwise, you can navigate to the Fully Lit setting, set each zone to white, and tune down the brightness to transform the Vulcan into a more sedate productivity keyboard.
Now, back to the other settings in Roccat Swarm.
The General Features tab contains three pinned categories: Sound Feedback, Character Repeat, and Reset Settings.
Sound Feedback is just gonzo: It lets you configure a sound to play through your speakers every time you press a key.
These noises range from a basic click to typewriter chatter to a "Sifi" sound, an incorrect spelling of Sci-Fi that may or may not be intentional.
Next, Character Repeat lets you change the delay that ensues after a key is held down for an extended period.
If you don't want a character to repeat itself during accidental key-holding, this will be useful for you.
This section also lets you change the rate at which the character repeats itself, as well as the rate at which the cursor blinks when you're not typing.
And Reset Settings, simply enough, restores the keyboard to factory settings.
Under Key Assignment, you can create your own custom macros to drag-and-drop onto a diagram of your keyboard.
In addition, you can assign basic functions, system and OS functions, internet functions, and numerous other ones to the keyboard the same way.
Under all three of the main interface tabs (General Features, Key Assignment, and Key Illumination) is a persistent Game Profiles section where you can create "slots" based on the games that you play.
You can either create your own slots that tie your settings to a particular application stored on your computer, or you can import profiles you've brought over from another computer.
Not that you would necessarily need to with the Vulcan, since it has onboard storage for saving macros and settings.
Long story short: Roccat Swarm gives you no shortage of stuff you can customize.
Moreover, despite its unflattering appearance, it's one of the more intuitive pieces of keyboard software I've used.
Everything you'll need to do is tucked under three tabs.
That's ideal when you don't want to spend a lot of time digging through settings to figure out how to light up keys, assign macros, or—if you're feeling silly—blast alien noises through your computer speakers as you type.
This Vulcan's Got a Grip on Gamers
By and large, the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO is much different beast than the Horde AIMO from just a few months ago, and that's a good thing.
This mechanical gaming keyboard uses its own flavor of switches, which will, of course, disappoint Cherry MX devotees.
But if you can get your hands on this keyboard for a test-type, the Titan switches may surprise you with their tactile feel, combined with their quiet sound.
It's a gaming keyboard that's just as suitable for tapping away in an office as for blasting buddies at home.
Plus, it has all the lighting and media features you would expect from a keyboard at this price.
All that keeps it from the top of our rankings is the lack of discrete macro/shortcut keys, which still leaves us partial to the Editors' Choice-winning Corsair K95 RGB Platinum ($170.96 at Amazon) .
After spending a fair amount of time with the Roccat Vulcan 120 AIMO, however, it hasn't left my desk yet.
It's safe to say that this board will be my daily driver for a while.
Pros
Stately look can serve gamers, productivity users alike.
High-quality switch feel and sound.
Dedicated media keys and volume dial.
Per-key RGB lighting, plus zone-based lighting.
View More
The Bottom Line
With custom Roccat key switches, elaborate RGB lighting, and a kitchen-sink feature set, the Vulcan 120 AIMO mechanical gaming keyboard is well worth the price of admission.
