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Introduction
Wooting is a company that’s responsible for the greatest technological leap in gaming keyboards in recent times. Their 60HE (see our Wooting 60HE review) is without a doubt the most iconic gaming keyboard on the market right now, but it is a small 60% keyboard. Wooting fans have been asking the brand to put out a TKL board (keyboard size differences explained) for quite some time now, and that time is finally here. Read our full Wooting 80HE review to find out if this new addition to the brand’s lineup can proudly stand next to its smaller and older sibling.
At A Glance
Wooting 80HE
Used by 112 players ()The question then becomes: does the 80HE do enough to set itself apart from that competition? My answer is ‘yes’. When you look at the complete package (switch feeling, implementation of the switches, customization, …) there isn’t any board out there that is objectively better than the Wooting 80HE.
Pros
- Wootility is still amazing and is constantly being updated
- Nice sound improvement over the 60HE
- Tons of customization options, both for performance as well as aesthetics
- Smooth switches straight out of the box
- Best-in-class gaming performance
- Good stock keycaps
- No rattling on any stabilizers
Cons
- Case feels a bit less premium than it should at this price
- Fewer modding options compared to the 60HE
Specs
Form Factor | TKL |
---|---|
Switches | Lekker |
PCB | Hotswappable |
RGB | Yes |
Height | 2.84cm |
Width | 34.6cm |
Length | 14.2cm |
Weight | 790g |
First Impressions
Different versions
The Wooting 80HE is available in a bunch of different colors and even with different case materials. There’s more info on their website, but if you go with a PCR plastic case you can choose between Black, Ghost, and Frost. Black speaks for itself, while Ghost and Frost feature translucent cases. The Ghost version has a darker tint to it, whereas the Frost version has a light tint.
If you want to go for a (more expensive) zinc alloy case, you can go for Black, White, or Raw. Raw has a bare, silver finish.
Additionally, you can also configure your own board on Wooting’s website.
I got the PCR Ghost case to try out, so my review will strictly be about that version. I didn’t have the chance to try out the Zinc versions, so I cannot make any comparisons to those.

Overall Design
When it comes to the overall layout, the Wooting 80HE is close to a standard TKL board. However, it should be noted that there are only 6 editing keys instead of the traditional 9. In its stock configuration, the Home, End, and Scroll Lock buttons are not present. The keycaps for those are included in the box though, so if you desperately need those buttons you can always rebind them in Wootility (more on that later) and swap out the caps.
I personally never use those buttons, so I definitely don’t need all the edit buttons to be there at the same time. Additionally, doing it this way saves a bit of space so that the WASD hand can be closer to the mousepad, and that’s a good compromise to make if you ask me. It’s still a gaming keyboard, after all.
This ‘gaming keyboard’ idea also comes through in the case design. It’s subtle, but upon closer inspection you’ll notice that this isn’t a traditional flat design. The sides of the case have little curves, protrusions, and angles that make the board visually distinct from a more traditional keyboard. Luckily, they didn’t go overboard with the design. Yes, it’s a bit different, but not obnoxiously so. This case should fit pretty much any desk aesthetic.
The Ghost finish allows the user to have a little peek at the insides of the board and -as an added bonus- it also amplifies the RGB lighting somewhat. I got to pick the finish I wanted to test myself, and I am quite happy with my choice.
RGB
Wooting’s Wootility editing program allows for practically endless lighting customization. What’s more is that, thanks to the analog nature of the switches, you can also add effects that you wouldn’t be able to achieve with a traditional mechanical keyboard. One effect, for example, displays an ‘aura’ around the key you’re pressing. This aura gets bigger the harder you press said key. You can then stack this effect on top of a base layer, add other effects, and so on.
If you’re a fan of RGB lighting, you will definitely have a lot of fun with this keyboard. The stock keycaps are black and don’t allow for a ton of light to shine through, but the white plate does help with giving the RGB that almost ethereal kind of vibe. Swap out the caps to something a bit more RGB-focused and you’ll definitely have a showstopping keyboard on your hands.

LED Bar
With these larger keyboard formats, it seems to be kind of a trend to include a ‘gimmick’ that allows the board to stand out. Some boards have an LED matrix at the back, others have a small OLED screen that (if you want it to) displays a tiny cat that types when you type, and so on. The Wooting 80HE’s standout is the LED bar. This can be programmed in a multitude of ways. You can have it display static colors, you can have it show how deep you’re pressing a key, or you can obviously turn it off entirely…
Aside from the abovementioned aesthetic examples, you can also set it to do some slightly more useful things, such as indicate what profile you’re currently on. Additionally, when doing a firmware update, the LED bar changes to a progress bar. That’s a really cool touch if you ask me.
Is all of this useful for gaming? No, of course not. But it is a fun little addition to the board. I also really like how it looks on my Ghost board, as that particular finish reminds me of retro consoles/computer gear, and the LED bar with its clear divisions between the 10 different LEDs also gives me some retro vibes. It’s a good match.

Packaging
Inside the box of the Wooting 80HE, you will find:
- The keyboard itself
- Additional switches (a mix of Lekker L45 and L60 switches)
- Braided USB-C cable
- Additional keycaps (including Home, End, and Scroll Lock keycaps)
- Bag of screws
- Plastic keycap puller
- Two sets of replacement rubber feet to change the typing angle
- The usual documentation, including a Wooting-branded ‘Thank you’ card
The box itself is little bit less nicely finished than what you get with the Wooting 60HE, but that might have something to do with the fact that Wooting is using a lot of sustainable materials for this keyboard. If that’s the case, I am all for it. I love it when brands use sustainable materials with their products, so kudos to Wooting for this.

Features and Build Quality
Sustainability
The case itself is made out of PCR (Post-Consumer Recycled) plastic. According to Wooting, the top and bottom case of the board are made out of 65% PCR ABS plastics. Additionally, the packaging is made of FSC certified cardboard and the plastic-like bags are made with compostable material. The majority of this product is thus made out of recycled or sustainable materials.
I am not the biggest environmentalist in the world, but I do try to be conscious about my footprint, so it’s cool to see Wooting opt for these materials.
Materials and Design
While I love the choices of sustainable materials, I do have to say that the case feels a bit ‘bendy’. When picking it up and twisting it, I can quite easily get it to flex. That’s not a huge deal since the board feels fine when it’s just being used normally, but I would be wary of this in case you’re someone who frequently transports their board in backpacks or other cramped spaces.
Aside from that, the materials that they’ve used feel fine. There’s no creaking or anything like that, and the plastic feels nice to the touch. It also handles fingerprints and finger oils extremely well, which is a bonus for me.
As noted, there is also a Zinc case option, but I did not get to test that.
This board uses a gasket mounting system, meaning that the PCB and switch plate are held together by a silicone gasket. This is a feature that’s mostly seen on more premium enthusiasts keyboards, and is meant to reduce the noise and give the user a softer typing feel. I will speak more on this (and other enthusiast-grade factory mods that they’ve applied) further down in the review.
Finally, I should say that the 80HE cannot be case-swapped with aftermarket cases like was the case with the 60HE. This is a custom-designed layout, so manufacturers will have to make cases specifically for this board, which will obviously limit your options. Opening up the case is pretty straightforward though, and the hardswap PCB is obviously also a boon, so it’s not as if it’s impossible to mod the board.
Keycaps
Wooting’s stock keycaps are very good. They’re textured, which is something that I like on a gaming keyboard, but they don’t feel chalky or rough as a result. They just seem to have a bit more grip than traditional smooth caps. Aside from that, they’re decently thick, and the RGB shines through consistently. Due to the texturing, they handle sweat and oils perfectly well.
What I like is how neutral the font is. If you purchase this board in a plain black configuration and just set the backlight to white, no one would be able to tell that this is a gaming keyboard.
As far as keycaps on a mass-produced gaming keyboard go, these are very good and I have no remarks on them.

Customization
Customizing the board is done through Wootility. That is a browser-based configuration tool, and I cannot overstate how much I love that. If you want to adjust anything on the board, simply open a browser and navigate to the Wootility page. That’s it. No downloading, no logging in, no nothing. Browse, tinker, save to the board, done.
Wootility itself is extremely well thought-out and clear to navigate. It’s also consistently receiving updates to make the user experience even better.
People who want to go even more in-depth can also download Wootomation, which is the brand’s macro editor software. Additionally, Wooting will also offer a background service app for people who want their LED bar to display things like audio levels and so on.
All of the above is optional, though. Everything that most people want to customize on a gaming keyboard can be customized in your browser. Everything from the actuation point to the various analog switch settings to the lighting: no need to download anything.
I’ve already said it in my review of the Wooting 60HE, but this way of doing things should be the new industry standard as far as I’m concerned. It’s just so hassle-free and convenient. Aside from all that, Wootility is also extremely well-designed. I love it everything about it.
Switches
Wooting is still using their own switches in their keyboards, but the V1 Lekker switches have been replaced by the V2. When it comes to the feeling of these switches, I honestly can’t notice a big difference between these and the V1. They do sound a lot better, however. The V2s are thockier, and just overall have less ‘ping’ to their sound.
Currently, you can choose between the L45 and L60 switches. The L45s have an actuation force of 45cN, and the L60s have an actuation force of 60cN. In other words: the L60s feel heavier to type and game on. As far as I’m concerned, these are perfectly tuned for gaming. Going a lot lighter than 45cN would make a switch feel too loose to me, and very heavy switches are a no-go for gaming for gaming if you ask most people. Obviously, you can also place any (compatible) aftermarket switch in this board, so you’ve got tons of options here if you don’t like the Lekkers.
Both the L45s as well as the L60s feel very smooth straight out of the box. I am not extremely knowledgeable on boutique aftermarket switches, but when compared to other options out there on the gaming keyboard market, I would say that these are up there with the very best. The vast majority of gamers will be absolutely fine with these, and even as someone who has built a couple of custom keyboards I see no reason to lube these switches myself.
Wooting has done a great job with these second generation Lekker switches.

Typing and Gaming Experience
Gaming Experience – Analog Switches
Obviously, the Wooting 80HE is a gaming keyboard first and foremost. Wooting has popularized analog switches in gaming keyboards, and today they are the de facto standard for high-end gaming keyboards. Using Wootility, you can set the actuation point of these switches to anything you want. You can make your movement keys extremely sensitive and make your reload key extremely ‘heavy’, for example.
That in itself is already a major advantage over traditional switches, but using analog switches also allows boards to implement amazing features such as Rapid Trigger. When enabled, the actuation point of your keyboard becomes dynamic: once you let go of a key, the actuation point gets reset. This is extremely useful for games where precise and fast inputs are of the essence. There’s a reason that Wooting (and other analog) boards are so widely in games like CS2, VALORANT, and Fortnite, for example.
Will analog switches and Rapid Trigger make you a movement God at any game? No, of course not. There’s no replacement for practice. But having a keyboard this responsive with features that are tailor-made for competitive gamers very obviously gives you an advantage. You’ll still get instagibbed by players who are a lot better, but once you’re used to these technologies you will also become a lot more consistent yourself. I really encourage anyone who is serious about gaming to try out an analog keyboard with Rapid Trigger.
Gaming Experience – New Features
As if all of the above wasn’t enough, the Wooting 80HE also debuts new features such as Rappy Snappy and SOCD. When pressing two keys at the same time (such as when attempting to counter-strafe), the keyboard will prioritize the key that is pressed the furthest. This removes those awkward moments where pressing two movement keys at the same time cancels movement.
Going even further than is SOCD. This feature prioritizes the last pressed input (regardless of how deep the keys are pressed) so that two input keys never overlap. This makes it so that your counter-strafes are never faulty.
Some of these new features are so powerful that they’ve been banned in games like CS2. As such, you should be careful when using these technologies in public games. While using them in CS2 will not get you a game ban (at the time of writing) you will be kicked from your match until you turn them off. You can read and learn more about Wooting’s stance on SOCD on their website, as it’s worth noting that the brand wasn’t a big fan of implementing SOCD in their boards.
Finally, Wooting has also introduced a ‘true 8000Hz polling rate mode’. This race to be the fastest kids on the block is good for the consumer and interesting to behold, but I have to be honest and say that I don’t notice a difference between 8000Hz and 1000Hz when I’m using keyboards. For me, this is a ‘good to have, but not necessary’ type of thing.

Gaming Experience – Still Best-In-Class?
Despite the fact that multiple (really good) competitors have popped up over the past year or so, Wooting keyboards are still in the very top leagues when it comes to gaming performances. A lot of competitors offer products that feel very similar, but they might (for example) mess up the sensitivity of the Rapid Trigger effect.
When looking at the entire package (implementation, support, responsiveness, …) I would say that Wooting is still the #1 when it comes to gaming keyboards. It might have to share its #1 spot with a select number of competitor products, but as far as I can tell there’s no keyboard out there that’s objectively better than the Wooting 80HE for gaming.
Typing Experience
I will start off this section with a short, but clear statement: if you want a productivity keyboard and your main focus is its feel and sound, you should spend your money on something else.
The aim of this board is to be the perfect gaming keyboard, not the perfect productivity board. You shouldn’t compare this to enthusiast keyboards whose only aim is to sound fantastic; you should compare it to other gaming keyboards.
Making this comparison, I can say that the Wooting 80HE feels and sounds really good. It’s a lot more quiet and muted than some other boards out there, though. This might rub some people the wrong way, but I kind of like it in a gaming keyboard.
There’s also the fact that the gasket-mounted system doesn’t flex a whole lot (one of the main draws of using gaskets is getting a very flexible/bouncy typing experience) but that’s logical to me. Analog switches, after all, are extremely precise instruments. Using those in a plate/assembly that’s flexing all over the place can lead to inconsistencies, which is something that you don’t want in a gaming keyboard.
With that said: Wooting hasn’t neglected the typing experience: the board has screw-in stabilizers, case foam, a PC switch plate, and a factory-installed ‘tape mod’ (a popular mod in the community). Those aren’t things you do if you don’t care about how your board feels and sounds.
All in all, the Wooting 80HE isn’t the best sounding mass-produced keyboard I’ve ever tried (that honor still goes to Meletrix) but it is up there with the best. The stabilizers sound great, there’s no case ping, and the switches feel and sound absolutely fine. Feel free to judge for yourself in the sound sample below.

Sound Test
Alternatives
Wooting 80HE vs Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL
Compared to the Wooting 80HE, I’d say that the ingame performance of both boards basically cannot be separated. One might be marginally better than the other at a certain task, but both the Razer and the Wooting are among the best analog keyboards on the market. Both brands are also continuously updating these boards, so there is no clear winner when it comes to gaming performances.
The Wooting 80HE does sound a lot better in my opinion, and is more user-friendly due to the fact that it can be configured in your browser whereas you need to download Razer Synapse to configure the Razer.
On the other hand, the Razer has a case that feels sturdier and comes with a wrist rest.
When it comes to the keycaps, both boards also feel very similar. Both use textured PBT keycaps of good quality.
Deciding on which product to purchase will come down to how much weight you put into these non-gaming aspects where the boards differ.
Read our Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL review
Wooting 80HE vs Meletrix BOOG75
It could be argued that the BOOG75 sounds better, though that is mostly subjective. Objectively speaking, the BOOG75 has a higher quality case and more premium aesthetic overall. It also comes with a carrying case.
When it comes to gaming performances, the Wooting 80HE wins the comparison if you ask me. Everything (including the web-based configurator) just feels a bit more thought-out and snappier on the Wooting 80HE. As such, if you’re purely looking at gaming performances, you should go for the 80HE. If you want something of a marriage between an enthusiast keyboard for productivity and a gaming keyboard, the BOOG75 could be a great choice.
Read our Meletrix BOOG75 review
Wooting 80HE vs SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL (Gen 2 and Gen 1)
It should be noted that SteelSeries have released the Apex Pro TKL Gen 3, and that I have not reviewed that board. Compared to the older generations of Apex Pro TKL, the Wooting is superior in pretty much every way. It has better keycaps, better gaming performances, a better sound, a detachable cable, and has web-based customization software.
As for the SteelSeries: it does come with a wrist rest and has an OLED screen, which can be argued is a tad more useful than an LED bar.
Read our SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL (Gen 2) review
Conclusion
Since Wooting released their 60HE, the competition took note and has really upped their game. As a consequence, the playing field is a lot more level this time around. Whereas the Wooting 60HE pretty much didn’t have any competitor product at the time, the Wooting 80HE has plenty.
The question then becomes: does the 80HE do enough to set itself apart from that competition? My answer is ‘yes’. When you look at the complete package (switch feeling, implementation of the switches, customization, …) there isn’t any board out there that is objectively better than the Wooting 80HE for gaming. There are some that come close (see the ‘alternatives’ section) and if you’re purely looking for sound, aesthetics, and feeling there are way better means to spend your money, but as a top tier gaming keyboard, this is a fantastic option.
I happen to like smaller boards (60% or 65%) for gaming, so I will stick to my Wooting 60HE for that, but if I had to get a TKL gaming keyboard right now, it would no doubt be this one.
This product was received for free from the manufacturer and given to our reviewer to test and review. Brands and manufacturers have no editorial control over our reviews. For more information, check out our review FAQ.