diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/inline/inl.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/inline/inl.go
index b764aed534d..47b895f7e3f 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/inline/inl.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/inline/inl.go
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ func (v *hairyVisitor) doNode(n ir.Node) bool {
 			break
 		}
 
-		if fn := inlCallee(n.X); fn != nil && fn.Inl != nil {
+		if fn := inlCallee(n.X); fn != nil && typecheck.HaveInlineBody(fn) {
 			v.budget -= fn.Inl.Cost
 			break
 		}
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ func inlnode(n ir.Node, maxCost int32, inlMap map[*ir.Func]bool, edit func(ir.No
 		if ir.IsIntrinsicCall(call) {
 			break
 		}
-		if fn := inlCallee(call.X); fn != nil && fn.Inl != nil {
+		if fn := inlCallee(call.X); fn != nil && typecheck.HaveInlineBody(fn) {
 			n = mkinlcall(call, fn, maxCost, inlMap, edit)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/crawler.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/crawler.go
index ae2b3b1df4e..ae6542d0719 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/crawler.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/crawler.go
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ func (p *crawler) markInlBody(n *ir.Name) {
 	if fn == nil {
 		base.Fatalf("markInlBody: missing Func on %v", n)
 	}
-	if fn.Inl == nil {
+	if !HaveInlineBody(fn) {
 		return
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iimport.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iimport.go
index 7c6c23e7371..26bc838ed99 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iimport.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/typecheck/iimport.go
@@ -81,6 +81,27 @@ func ImportBody(fn *ir.Func) {
 	inimport = false
 }
 
+// HaveInlineBody reports whether we have fn's inline body available
+// for inlining.
+func HaveInlineBody(fn *ir.Func) bool {
+	if fn.Inl == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Unified IR is much more conservative about pruning unreachable
+	// methods (at the cost of increased build artifact size).
+	if base.Debug.Unified != 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	if fn.Inl.Body != nil {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	_, ok := inlineImporter[fn.Nname.Sym()]
+	return ok
+}
+
 func importReaderFor(sym *types.Sym, importers map[*types.Sym]iimporterAndOffset) *importReader {
 	x, ok := importers[sym]
 	if !ok {