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Roccat Kone XP Review – A Brilliant RGB Gaming Mouse

Roccat Kone XP Review – A Brilliant RGB Gaming Mouse


It was hard to make a case for RGB lighting on a gaming mouse before the Roccat Kone XP came into my life. After all, it’s usually not as powerful as the lighting on a gaming keyboard, and you’ll always be covering it with your hands. But for now, you can think I’ve completely converted, because the Roccat’s “3D RGB” lights connect your setup together in a way that few other rodents can.

The title feature takes its name from the way the lighting is underneath the translucent housing, where 8 pipes are filled with 22 LEDs that emit bright beams. The construction itself is two-tone, clear on top, opaque on the sides, and rubberized sides so you don’t lose grip. This may divide opinion when the lights go out, but it personally evokes nostalgia for Nintendo’s Game Boy’s clear case and other tech that proudly showcases its internals.

However, when the lights come on, Roccat takes it to the next level. It has the same 16.8 million colors we’d expect on a light-emitting device, but the Kone XP is the most vibrant gaming mouse I’ve seen, and it’s sure to catch the eye.

The moment you plug it in, you’ll see a rich glow of color as it cycles through the spectrum. You can customize it by downloading the Roccat Swarm software, which does a great job of feeling robust without being overly bloated.

There are seven different effects to choose from, including your usual Wave, Full Bright, Heartbeat, Breath and Blink modes, as well as two Roccat-specific alternatives: AIMO Smart Lighting and PhotonFX. It’s hard to describe the AIMO lighting because there is no consistency in the changing colors, but it’s similar to a wave effect where the light reacts to your clicks. PhotonFX, on the other hand, has a sci-fi vibe as it looks like a charged energy weapon, which is easily my favorite of the set.

RockartKone XP Razer Naga Trinity Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite
sensor Roccat Owl-Eye 19K Optical Razer 5G Optics Pixart PMW3391 Optical
Max DPI 19,000 16,000 18,000
Programmable button 15 (up to 29) up to 19 17
weight 104 grams 120 grams 122 grams
price $89.99 $99.99 $79.99

Roccat Kone XP isn’t just about form, though, as it gives you enough power at your fingertips to make even the most intense MMO, MOBA, or strategy game a little easier. There are 15 programmable buttons, including four side buttons, thumb keys, two buttons on the left clicker, and a 4D scroll wheel that can be tilted left or right for additional input. Holding the thumb button activates Roccat EasyShift, which effectively doubles the amount of input you can have in 29 different combinations. In fact, if you don’t fiddle with the default scroll wheel, left-click, and right-click, this reduces to about 24 custom functions, but that’s still enough for almost any situation.

Roccat Kone XP is great for MMOs, MOBAs and strategy games, but probably not for FPS games

While it works for most genres, it may not be suitable for competitive FPS games. Nvidia Reflex support works like a charm when playing compatible games like Rainbow Six Siege, but there’s a relatively steep learning curve to use the four buttons clustered on the side without accidentally mixing multiple buttons simultaneously during intense moments. At 104 grams, it’s 26 grams lighter than the previous Roccat AIMO Remastered and other button-heavy mice, but still considerably heavier than most rodents in a space designed to reduce weight. The ‘PhantomFlex’ cable and PTFE feet go a long way in helping it glide seamlessly, and while it’s heavy, you’ll notice the weight if you lift the mouse a lot to reposition it.

When it comes to PTFE feet, the protective covers that wrap the rails to keep them from scratching are more of a curse than a blessing. They look shiny and new underneath, but whether you’ll be able to peel them off is another question. The protective cover is so cumbersome to remove without a pull tab that I ended up leaving the membrane ring around the sensor the entire time I used the rodent.

Under the hood is a Roccat Owl-Eye 19K optical sensor that performs as well as the best gaming mice on the market. It feels barely worth mentioning the 19,000DPI cap as gamers rarely climb that high, but if for some reason you want to make it one of your five DPI stages or five profiles, it’s There.

Roccat Swarm gives you tons of customization options

As you might expect, you can adjust the DPI settings in the Roccat Swarm software. In fact, it offers quite a few customization options, including takeoff distance, polling rate, angle snap, pan tilt speed, double tap speed, and even your Windows pointer speed, so you don’t need to constantly change the DPI in and out of your game .

I can’t accept Roccat’s claim that its Titan optical switches are clickable 100 million times or faster than the competition, but they’re pleasant and responsive. The click itself is much quieter than the SteelSeries Rival 5 and Razer Viper Ultimate I have to hand, so it’s not as annoying as the mic if you share space or refuse to use push-to-talk on Discord for gaming.

With an MSRP of $89.99, the Roccat Kone XP isn’t cheap. The plastic case sometimes feels like it’s a little less expensive than it might suggest, but it does everything it wants to do, and it does it well. For just $10 more than the Kone AIMO Remastered, you get more buttons, less weight, and brighter RGB lighting—though it’s worth mentioning that its predecessor often comes with discounts.

Any RGB enthusiast should consider adding the Roccat Kone XP to their arsenal, as no other rodent does it better. It’s a tad lighter than other button-style mice and offers plenty of customization thanks to Roccat EasyShift. Best of all, it’s less than $100, but if lighting isn’t your bag, the Razer Naga Trinity and Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite both offer a similar number of customizable buttons at similar prices.

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Kirsten Bennett
Kirsten is a passionate writer who loves games, and one day he decided to combine the two. She is now professionally writing niche articles about Consoles and hardware .