diff --git a/open-sse/services/combo.ts b/open-sse/services/combo.ts
index 3b7c274061..d4eaf3ed70 100644
--- a/open-sse/services/combo.ts
+++ b/open-sse/services/combo.ts
@@ -770,6 +770,18 @@ export async function handleComboChat({
   // Fusion strategy: parallel panel + judge synthesis. Handled in a separate module
   // because it neither iterates targets in order nor needs the failover/retry/credential
   // gate machinery that follows — it fans out, then synthesizes once.
+  const cfg = config as Record<string, unknown>;
+  const judgeModel = typeof cfg.judgeModel === "string" ? cfg.judgeModel : undefined;
+  const fusionTuning =
+    cfg.fusionTuning && typeof cfg.fusionTuning === "object"
+      ? (cfg.fusionTuning as FusionTuning)
+      : undefined;
+  if (strategy !== "fusion" && (judgeModel || fusionTuning)) {
+    log.warn(
+      "COMBO",
+      `Combo "${combo.name}" sets config.judgeModel/fusionTuning but strategy is "${strategy}" — these fields are only consumed by the fusion strategy and will be ignored (#6455)`
+    );
+  }
   if (strategy === "fusion") {
     const fusionModels = (combo.models || [])
       .map((m) => {
@@ -781,12 +793,6 @@ export async function handleComboChat({
         return null;
       })
       .filter((m): m is string => Boolean(m));
-    const cfg = config as Record<string, unknown>;
-    const judgeModel = typeof cfg.judgeModel === "string" ? cfg.judgeModel : undefined;
-    const tuning =
-      cfg.fusionTuning && typeof cfg.fusionTuning === "object"
-        ? (cfg.fusionTuning as FusionTuning)
-        : undefined;
     return handleFusionChat({
       body,
       models: fusionModels,
@@ -794,7 +800,7 @@ export async function handleComboChat({
       log,
       comboName: combo.name,
       judgeModel,
-      tuning,
+      tuning: fusionTuning,
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/combo-fusion-config-warn-6455.test.ts b/tests/unit/combo-fusion-config-warn-6455.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e15acce0f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/combo-fusion-config-warn-6455.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+/**
+ * Regression guard for #6455 — silent no-op when config.judgeModel is set on a
+ * combo whose top-level strategy is anything other than "fusion".
+ *
+ * Before the fix, open-sse/services/combo.ts read `config.judgeModel` and
+ * `config.fusionTuning` only inside the `if (strategy === "fusion")` branch,
+ * so a persisted judgeModel on a priority/weighted/auto/round-robin combo was
+ * silently ignored — the response reflected whichever priority/panel target
+ * won, not a judge synthesis. Users observed this as their configured judge
+ * (e.g. auto/claude-opus) being ignored in favor of the raw first target.
+ *
+ * The minimal-diff fix logs a warn immediately before the fusion branch, so
+ * the misconfiguration is observable in logs without changing runtime behavior
+ * for legitimate fusion combos.
+ */
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+const TEST_DATA_DIR = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "omniroute-combo-6455-"));
+process.env.DATA_DIR = TEST_DATA_DIR;
+process.env.API_KEY_SECRET = process.env.API_KEY_SECRET || "combo-fusion-warn-test-secret";
+
+const { handleComboChat } = await import("../../open-sse/services/combo.ts");
+
+function okResponse(content: string): Response {
+  const body = JSON.stringify({ choices: [{ message: { role: "assistant", content } }] });
+  return new Response(body, { status: 200, headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" } });
+}
+
+function makeLog() {
+  const records: Array<{ level: string; scope: string; msg: string }> = [];
+  const cap = (level: string) => (scope: string, msg: string) => {
+    records.push({ level, scope, msg: String(msg) });
+  };
+  return {
+    log: {
+      info: cap("info"),
+      warn: cap("warn"),
+      debug: cap("debug"),
+      error: cap("error"),
+    },
+    records,
+  };
+}
+
+test("6455: warns when config.judgeModel is set but strategy is not fusion", async () => {
+  const { log, records } = makeLog();
+  const handleSingleModel = async () => okResponse("resp");
+
+  const res = await handleComboChat({
+    body: { messages: [{ role: "user", content: "hi" }] },
+    combo: {
+      name: "fusion-free",
+      strategy: "priority",
+      models: [{ model: "p/first" }, { model: "p/second" }],
+      config: { judgeModel: "auto/claude-opus" },
+    },
+    handleSingleModel,
+    log,
+    settings: {},
+    allCombos: [],
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(res.status, 200);
+  const warns = records.filter(
+    (r) => r.level === "warn" && r.scope === "COMBO" && r.msg.includes("judgeModel")
+  );
+  assert.equal(warns.length, 1, `expected exactly one judgeModel warn, got ${warns.length}`);
+  assert.match(warns[0].msg, /priority/);
+  assert.match(warns[0].msg, /fusion-free/);
+  assert.match(warns[0].msg, /#6455/);
+});
+
+test("6455: warns when config.fusionTuning is set but strategy is not fusion", async () => {
+  const { log, records } = makeLog();
+  const handleSingleModel = async () => okResponse("resp");
+
+  await handleComboChat({
+    body: { messages: [{ role: "user", content: "hi" }] },
+    combo: {
+      name: "wrong-strategy",
+      strategy: "weighted",
+      models: [{ model: "p/a", weight: 1 }],
+      config: { fusionTuning: { judgeTemperature: 0.2 } },
+    },
+    handleSingleModel,
+    log,
+    settings: {},
+    allCombos: [],
+  });
+
+  const warns = records.filter(
+    (r) => r.level === "warn" && r.scope === "COMBO" && r.msg.includes("fusionTuning")
+  );
+  assert.equal(warns.length, 1);
+});
+
+test("6455: does NOT warn when strategy is fusion (legitimate use)", async () => {
+  const { log, records } = makeLog();
+  const handleSingleModel = async () => okResponse("resp");
+
+  await handleComboChat({
+    body: { messages: [{ role: "user", content: "hi" }] },
+    combo: {
+      name: "real-fusion",
+      strategy: "fusion",
+      models: [{ model: "p/panelA" }, { model: "p/panelB" }],
+      config: { judgeModel: "auto/claude-opus" },
+    },
+    handleSingleModel,
+    log,
+    settings: {},
+    allCombos: [],
+  });
+
+  const warns = records.filter(
+    (r) =>
+      r.level === "warn" &&
+      r.scope === "COMBO" &&
+      (r.msg.includes("judgeModel") || r.msg.includes("fusionTuning"))
+  );
+  assert.equal(
+    warns.length,
+    0,
+    `expected no judgeModel warn on legitimate fusion, got ${warns.length}`
+  );
+});
+
+test("6455: does NOT warn when strategy is non-fusion and no judgeModel/fusionTuning set", async () => {
+  const { log, records } = makeLog();
+  const handleSingleModel = async () => okResponse("resp");
+
+  await handleComboChat({
+    body: { messages: [{ role: "user", content: "hi" }] },
+    combo: {
+      name: "plain-priority",
+      strategy: "priority",
+      models: [{ model: "p/only" }],
+      config: {},
+    },
+    handleSingleModel,
+    log,
+    settings: {},
+    allCombos: [],
+  });
+
+  const warns = records.filter(
+    (r) =>
+      r.level === "warn" &&
+      r.scope === "COMBO" &&
+      (r.msg.includes("judgeModel") || r.msg.includes("fusionTuning"))
+  );
+  assert.equal(warns.length, 0);
+});