diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 62c721f1575a585b7a69272693ac03fe444c4b54..3429500bf8157624e2acf30a460f2858559c4b13 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -3257,9 +3257,12 @@ fn buildOutputType(
         else => false,
     };
 
+    const incremental = opt_incremental orelse false;
+
     const disable_lld_caching = !output_to_cache;
 
     const cache_mode: Compilation.CacheMode = b: {
+        if (incremental) break :b .incremental;
         if (disable_lld_caching) break :b .incremental;
         if (!create_module.resolved_options.have_zcu) break :b .whole;
 
@@ -3272,8 +3275,6 @@ fn buildOutputType(
         break :b .incremental;
     };
 
-    const incremental = opt_incremental orelse false;
-
     process.raiseFileDescriptorLimit();
 
     var file_system_inputs: std.ArrayListUnmanaged(u8) = .{};