If you’re into competitive gaming, you might have heard about a little feature called rapid trigger mode that can give you a big advantage over your opponents. It’s available on select keyboards from Razer, and, as the name suggests, it lets you get in more keystrokes with each press than usual.
To achieve this, Razer has tweaked the way their new keyboards’ switches work, which has led to an ultra-responsive keystroke experience that you can set to your own preference in the free iCUE software. This is an advanced feature that uses a specialized algorithm to dynamically adjust the actuation and reset points of the key switch for each individual keypress, which allows the keys to activate (and deactivate) at their intended point without having to wait until it’s travelled up to the default reset point. It’s a big improvement over the more common methods for increasing speed by adjusting how far a key needs to travel before it registers as a press, and it can make all the difference when it comes to gaming keyboards that are designed to be fast and accurate.
The quickest rapid trigger keyboards are usually made with analogue optical switches, which can register how far each key is being pressed, rather than the simple ON/OFF input of regular digital key switches. These switches are perfect for rapid trigger because they’re unaffected by temperature or magnetic interference, which can slow down the actuation and reset process. This makes the quickest rapid trigger keyboards ideal for games that rely on a lot of rapid pressing and controlled movement – first-person shooters, for example.
Dutch indie switch producers Wooting were the first to develop the best rapid trigger keyboard with their Wooting Two Lekker Edition back in 2019, and they later refined the concept on their more expensive 60HE keyboards. Their implementation of the technology has been the best so far, and it gained some attention from YouTuber Optimum Tech in 2023 when they independently tested it for responsiveness compared to mainstream rivals. Wooting’s software is also the most comprehensive in terms of rapid trigger customisation, letting you fine-tune each keystroke down to the millisecond, and even change the primary actuation point from its default 2.0mm.
If you want to see for yourself how much faster and more precise a rapid trigger keyboard can be, you can try out the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog or the Razer Huntsman Mini Analog. Both are currently on sale for $199/PS199 each, and they both come with the latest version of iCUE.