diff --git a/src/Compilation/Config.zig b/src/Compilation/Config.zig
index d692fe5623..2de2184252 100644
--- a/src/Compilation/Config.zig
+++ b/src/Compilation/Config.zig
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ pub const ResolveError = error{
     ZigLacksTargetSupport,
     EmittingBinaryRequiresLlvmLibrary,
     LldIncompatibleObjectFormat,
+    LldCannotIncrementallyLink,
     LtoRequiresLld,
     SanitizeThreadRequiresLibCpp,
     LibCppRequiresLibUnwind,
@@ -257,6 +258,11 @@ pub fn resolve(options: Options) ResolveError!Config {
             break :b true;
         }
 
+        if (options.use_llvm == false) {
+            if (options.use_lld == true) return error.LldCannotIncrementallyLink;
+            break :b false;
+        }
+
         if (options.use_lld) |x| break :b x;
         break :b true;
     };
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 21f7281d74..6b6dd0ec39 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -3949,6 +3949,7 @@ fn createModule(
             error.ZigLacksTargetSupport => fatal("compiler backend unavailable for the specified target", .{}),
             error.EmittingBinaryRequiresLlvmLibrary => fatal("producing machine code via LLVM requires using the LLVM library", .{}),
             error.LldIncompatibleObjectFormat => fatal("using LLD to link {s} files is unsupported", .{@tagName(target.ofmt)}),
+            error.LldCannotIncrementallyLink => fatal("self-hosted backends do not support linking with LLD", .{}),
             error.LtoRequiresLld => fatal("LTO requires using LLD", .{}),
             error.SanitizeThreadRequiresLibCpp => fatal("thread sanitization is (for now) implemented in C++, so it requires linking libc++", .{}),
             error.LibCppRequiresLibUnwind => fatal("libc++ requires linking libunwind", .{}),