After owning several unusuals throughout the years I have noticed some strange irregularities with how unusual effects behave depending on a handful of attributes. These irregularities vary from barley noticeable to non-functioning. I have not seen much discussion let alone acknowledgement of these issues, so I have made this guide to educate the community. This guide is everything you need to know about broken unusuals, how to look out for them, and how to fix unusuals that are affected.

If a unusual has a broken effect ALL versions of that unusual will be broken in the same way.
For example: A Purple Energy Aviator Assassin is a broken unusual, so ALL Purple Energy Aviator Assassins that exist as well as all that are unboxed in the future will have the exact same issue unless fixed otherwise. I cannot stress it enough that unusuals are not individually broken.

Just because a unusual is broken in some sort of way, it does not mean it should be worth less or that it's a bad item. Most broken unusuals can be fixed one way or the other. Do not try and convince somebody that they should sell, trade, or delete their items simply because they have one of these issues. This guide was made solely to help those who don't understand why a unusual they have is not working properly and should NOT be used as a trading strategy.

This Guide is under construction, so Not every hat / effect that is broken has been listed. Just the ones that I am aware of.

If you want to figure out if a specific combination of effect and hat is broken, please read the "How To Test" section of the guide to test for yourself.

When adjusted, all unusual effects lag behind the player. This is more noticeable on scout, as well as on lower frame-rates. This issue is primarily a client side issue, other players can't see the issue as badly.

Example used: Sulphorus Company Man

Do not adjust the unusual effect.

- Nearly ALL Unusual hats and effects.

Some hats will have the issue of their unusual effect appearing on the waist of the player. If a hat with this issue is all-class it will typically appear on all nine of the classes. Hats will have this issue despite looking normal in the inventory. Unsure why, but the bug is significantly more common on hats that were released After the End of The Line update.
Examples used: Dead Presidents Merc's Mohawk, Sunbeams Merc's Mohawk

Adjust the unusual effect.
Sometimes, adjusting does not fix the effect.
Hats with the * tag cannot be fixed regardless of how much you adjust the unusual effect.


I have tested every single hat in game with an effect from gen one, two and three. Being on this list does not mean every effect on the hat is broken. It just means that the hat has issues with some of them.
After more testing, it appears that this kind of issue only really affects Unusual effects up to End of the line, this means Gen 1, 2, 3, Robo, EOTL and valve Halloweens.
Note: If a hat has this issue with one effect it does not mean that ALL effects on said hat will be broken, as it varies from hat to hat and effect to effect.

Scout:
- Lightning Lid
- B'aaarrghn Bicorne
- Millennial Mercenary
- Fortunate Son
- Frickin' Sweet Ninja Hood
- Death Racer's Helmet
- Punk's Pomp
- Boston Brain Buket
- Throttlehead

Soldier:
- Shellmet
- Slo-Poke
- Crit Cloak
- Infernal Impaler
- Screamin' Eagle
- Detective
- Thousand-Yard Stare
- Climbing Commander (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Dancing Doe
- Vampire Vanquisher
- Semi-Tame Trapper's Hat
- Sky High Fly Guy
- Roaming Roman
- Firearm Protector
- Calamitous Cauldron
- Bazar Bauble
- Elf Defense
- Bulb Bonnet
- *Coldfront Curbstompers

Pyro:
- Pyromancer's Hood
- Cat's Pajamas (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Propaniac
- Seared Sorcerer
- Burning Question
- Neptune's Nightmare
- Flamehawk
- Fire Fighter
- Combustible Kabuto
- Reel Fly Hat
- Toy Tailor
- Partizan
- A Head Full of Hot Air
- Round-A-Bout
- Elf Ignition
- Firestalker

Demoman:
- Blast Defense
- Outta Sight
- Bruce's Bonnet
- Bomber's Bucket Hat
- Valhalla Helm
- Hazard Headgear
- Plaid Lad
- Nightbane Brim
- Bombard Brigadier
- Spiky viking

Heavy:
- Bear Necessities (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Mo'Horn
- Siberian Facehugger
- Aztec Aggressor
- Warhood
- SandMann's Brush
- Ol' Reliable
- Minnesota Slick
- Polar Bear
- Trash Man
- Horror Shawl
- Mooshanka (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Squatter's Right
- Fur-Lined Fighter
- Cool Capuchon (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Mann-O-War
- Convict Cap
- *Sleeveless in Siberia
- *Hunter Heavy

Engineer:
- Conagher's Combocer
- Wavefinder
- Wide-Brimmed Bandito
- Lawnmaker
- Trencher's Topper
- More Gun Marshal
- Head of Defense
- Artic Mole
- Soft Hard Hat

Medic:
- Das Hazmattenhatten (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Nunhood (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Das Naggenvatcher
- Victorian Villainy
- Coldfront Commander
- Heer's Helmet
- Physician's Protector
- Soda Cap
- Surgeon's Shako
- Teutonic toque
- Mighty Mitre
- Snowcapped
- Mann of Reason
- Optic Nerve
- Elf Care Provider

Sniper:
- Corona Australis
- Cold Killer (Effect is in the chest, not the waist)
- Your Worst Nightmare
- Professional's Ushanka
- Dread Hiding Hood
- Bare Necessities
- Headhunter's Brim
- Archer's Sterling
- Hawaiian Hunter
- Highway Star
- Missing Piece

Spy:
- Monsieur Grenouille
- Crustaceous Cowl
- Aviator Assassin
- Crabe de Chapeau
- Festive Cover-Up

All / Multi Class
- Merc's Mohawk
- Towering Pillar of Beanies
- Breadcrab
- Colonel Kringle
- Executioner
- Potassium Bonnet
- Bedouin Bandanna
- Balloonihoodie
- Decorated Veteran
- Snowmann
- Ballooniphones
- Onimann
- Prehistoric Pullover
- Crown of the Old Kingdom
- Candy Crown
- Mister Bones
- All Hallow's Hatte
- Lil' Bitey
- Woolen Warmer
- A Well Wrapped Hat
- Professional's Pom-Pom
- Tundra Top
- Chill Chullo
- Nuke
- Hat Chocolate
- Caribou Companion
- Sophisticated Smoker
- Reindoonibeanie
- Starlight Sorcerer
- Hat Outta Hell
- Phononaut
- Bobby Bonnet
- Smissmas Sorcerer
- Winter Wrap Up
- Twisted Topper
- Bat Hat
- Second-Head Headwear
- Giftcrafter
- King Cardbeard
- Yule Hog
- Spooky Head-Bouncers
- Undercover Broly

Some unusual effects will occasionally spawn / orbit far away from the hat. Some orbiting effects will break 100% of the time if adjusted.

Example used: Orbiting Fire Prince Tavish's Crown
Image source: Bpt17's Reddit post

There is no way to completely fix this issue, but not adjusting the unusual effect makes it less common.

- Most effects that orbit the hat
- Cloudy Moon
- Harvest Moon
- Death at Dusk
- Morning Glory
- Molten Mallard
- Subatomic
- Atomic
- Voltaic Hat Protector
- Electric Hat Protector
- Gourdian Angel
- Condescending Embrace
- Twisting Lights
- Stunning
- Ring of Fire
- Vicious Circle
- White Lightning
- Overclocked
- Memory Leak
- Poisoned Shadows
- Chiroptera Venenata
- Something Burning This Way Comes
- Energetic Haunter
- Frantic Spooker
- Frightened Poltergeist
- Wandering Wisps
- Frisky Flies
- Smoldering Spirits

Some hats will cause a handful of unusual effects to appear upside down or backwards. This seems to only affect hats on the Soldier that jiggle around on his head, and on Sniper hats that he can remove using his melee Taunt. These two are put together because they are both are caused by the same issue. A more in-depth guide on this bug specifically has been made by a friend of mine. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2887940583

Upside-Down:
Examples used: Anti-Freeze Grenadier's Softcap, Anti-Freeze Tyrant's Helm

Backwards:
Examples used: Circling TFLogo Grenadier's Softcap, Circling TFLogo Tyrant's Helm

Some can be fixed by Adjusting the unusual effect, but others cannot be fixed.

Some Soldier hats
Some Sniper hats
Head full of Hot Air
Phononaut
Some all-class hats specifically on Sniper or Soldier
Effects that are broken ONLY on said hats:
- Anti-Freeze
- Roboactive
- Most Orbiting effects
- Devilish Diablo
- Tempered Thorns
- Severed Serration
- Hospitable Festivity
- Condescending Embrace
- Spiraling Lights
- Twisting Lights
- Ardent Antlers
- Holiday Horns
- Shining Stag
- Haunted Kraken
- Eerie Kraken
- Soulful Slice
- Horsemann's Hack
- Haunted Forever!
- Forever And Forever!
- Cursed Forever!
- Haunted Wick
- Wicked Wick
- Spectral Wick

Thankfully, you can test unusuals using the in game tool ItemTest. Itemtest is primarily used to test out custom unusual effects and custom hats.


Here is a simple step by step guide:

1) In console (~) type:

2) Once the map has loaded, Pick the class that uses the unusual you want to test.

3) In Console (~) type:

4) In the Itemtest menu, select the class that you want to test the unusual on.
DO NOT USE THE ALL-CLASS OPTION, IT COMMONLY BREAKS ITEMTEST
DO NOT PICK MORE THAN ONE CLASS, THIS ALSO BREAKS ITEMTEST

5) Using the three drop down menus below the class selection click the "Headgear" option.

6) On the drop down menu that says "Or an existing item" pick the hat that you want to test.

7) On the drop down menu that says "Unusual effect" pick the unusual effect that you want to test.
DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO THE OTHER COSMETIC SLOT OPTIONS. THEY WILL NOT WORK.

8) Press the "OK" button

9) Press the "Apply Test Items" button

10) A bot should have spawned in the map with the combination of hat and effect chosen. If the unusual that the bot has is broken on one of the ways described, then that is how it will appear on the real thing.

If you get a error in console after doing this, relaunch TF2 and try again.

A thank you to the following people for helping me with gathering information and feedback on this guide.

Saffy_ : Provided some information about a handful of unusuals that they have owned.
Natsu : Provided some information about a handful of unusuals that they have owned.
Beasty: Created the guide for upside down unusuals. :)