Keyboards have been getting better and better in recent years, with various switches and designs being improved. One of the biggest changes to come to keyboards has been the advent of Hall Effect switches. They use magnetic sensors to detect key presses, and the actuation occurs by sensing changes in the magnetic field. This is why actuation points are adjustable too, and has led to the proliferation of features like Rapid Trigger. I've been using a Hall Effect keyboard for quite a while now, and after using Rapid Trigger for gaming, I don't think I can ever go back.

How Rapid Trigger works

Customizable actuation points are the secret sauce

In mechanical keyboards, the switches are self-contained units that house the components (stem, spring, and metal contacts) responsible for registering a keypress. When a key is pressed, the internal metal contacts within the switch close the circuit, sending a signal to the PCB. However, in the switch itself are a lot of moving parts, and those moving parts can wear out over time. As we already mentioned, Hall Effect switches use magnetic sensors to detect key presses, and the actuation is whenever the magnetic field is sensed to have changed at a certain point.

With Rapid Trigger, it dynamically adjusts to register the keypress and when you let go of the key as soon as it starts to move. The slightest movement of the key will register it as a press, and it will let go of the key as soon as you physically let go of it, rather than the key needing to travel a bit by itself, first. Some keyboards will allow you to adjust this at least a little bit, and on my keyboard, I have it set to a 0.3mm actuation point for both a key press and a key release.

This feature differs from the likes of Snap Tap and SOCD because it's not pressing anything for you, and instead is more representative of your real inputs. Snap Tap and SOCD would press the counter-key to your movement key in FPS games, so for example, pressing W and then pressing S, your keyboard will then release S for you in order to counter-strafe perfectly. This is especially problematic for skill-based movement games like Counter-Strike.

I can't live without Rapid Trigger anymore

I've already got too used to it

I've been using Rapid Trigger for the last two months, starting with my SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL. I play a lot of Counter-Strike and Valorant, but it's something I never used until recently. It was definitely a learning curve as it's quite weird to have the game respond to your inputs immediately, rather than there being a slight delay, However, since using it, I've realized that it's simply better than regular keyboard inputs.

When you're playing a game and you press a key, there's an inherent delay for the key to hit the actuation point and for your computer to recognize the input. Likewise, there's an inherent delay when you let go, too. With Rapid Trigger, that delay goes away. It takes getting used to because any slight movement off a key will be seen as releasing it, but it means that your movements are better reflected by what you're actually doing.

For a top-tier player, this is something incredibly valuable. It can make counter-strafing in games (where you make a counter-movement to the movement you had just been making to come to a standstill) way easier, as you don't need to worry about your keyboard, just your own timing with your fingers.

Of course, there are downsides, which is why it can take getting used to. If you're used to that slight delay, it can actually cover up some of your imperfections when it comes to in-game movement, and Rapid Trigger can expose those. For me, though, I'll never be able to go back from using Rapid Trigger, and it's one of the best features that I've used in a peripheral in a long time.