diff --git a/src/bootstrap/builder.rs b/src/bootstrap/builder.rs
index 78ba1d376be..9d037dad9cc 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/builder.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/builder.rs
@@ -677,10 +677,9 @@ impl<'a> Builder<'a> {
         let compiler = self.compiler(self.top_stage, host);
         cmd.env("RUSTC_STAGE", compiler.stage.to_string())
             .env("RUSTC_SYSROOT", self.sysroot(compiler))
-            .env(
-                "RUSTDOC_LIBDIR",
-                self.sysroot_libdir(compiler, self.config.build),
-            )
+            // Note that this is *not* the sysroot_libdir because rustdoc must be linked
+            // equivalently to rustc.
+            .env("RUSTDOC_LIBDIR", self.rustc_libdir(compiler))
             .env("CFG_RELEASE_CHANNEL", &self.config.channel)
             .env("RUSTDOC_REAL", self.rustdoc(host))
             .env("RUSTDOC_CRATE_VERSION", self.rust_version())
@@ -874,7 +873,7 @@ impl<'a> Builder<'a> {
         } else {
             &maybe_sysroot
         };
-        let libdir = sysroot.join(libdir(&compiler.host));
+        let libdir = self.rustc_libdir(compiler);
 
         // Customize the compiler we're running. Specify the compiler to cargo
         // as our shim and then pass it some various options used to configure
@@ -916,7 +915,7 @@ impl<'a> Builder<'a> {
             cargo.env("RUSTC_ERROR_FORMAT", error_format);
         }
         if cmd != "build" && cmd != "check" && cmd != "rustc" && want_rustdoc {
-            cargo.env("RUSTDOC_LIBDIR", self.sysroot_libdir(compiler, self.config.build));
+            cargo.env("RUSTDOC_LIBDIR", self.rustc_libdir(compiler));
         }
 
         if mode.is_tool() {
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/tool.rs b/src/bootstrap/tool.rs
index c09e9332895..6383a2ecc75 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/tool.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/tool.rs
@@ -418,25 +418,25 @@ impl Step for Rustdoc {
 
     fn run(self, builder: &Builder) -> PathBuf {
         let target_compiler = builder.compiler(builder.top_stage, self.host);
+        if target_compiler.stage == 0 {
+            if !target_compiler.is_snapshot(builder) {
+                panic!("rustdoc in stage 0 must be snapshot rustdoc");
+            }
+            return builder.initial_rustc.with_file_name(exe("rustdoc", &target_compiler.host));
+        }
         let target = target_compiler.host;
-        let build_compiler = if target_compiler.stage == 0 {
-            builder.compiler(0, builder.config.build)
-        } else if target_compiler.stage >= 2 {
-            // Past stage 2, we consider the compiler to be ABI-compatible and hence capable of
-            // building rustdoc itself.
-            builder.compiler(target_compiler.stage, builder.config.build)
-        } else {
-            // Similar to `compile::Assemble`, build with the previous stage's compiler. Otherwise
-            // we'd have stageN/bin/rustc and stageN/bin/rustdoc be effectively different stage
-            // compilers, which isn't what we want.
-            builder.compiler(target_compiler.stage - 1, builder.config.build)
-        };
+        // Similar to `compile::Assemble`, build with the previous stage's compiler. Otherwise
+        // we'd have stageN/bin/rustc and stageN/bin/rustdoc be effectively different stage
+        // compilers, which isn't what we want. Rustdoc should be linked in the same way as the
+        // rustc compiler it's paired with, so it must be built with the previous stage compiler.
+        let build_compiler = builder.compiler(target_compiler.stage - 1, builder.config.build);
 
-        builder.ensure(compile::Rustc { compiler: build_compiler, target });
-        builder.ensure(compile::Rustc {
-            compiler: build_compiler,
-            target: builder.config.build,
-        });
+        // The presence of `target_compiler` ensures that the necessary libraries (codegen backends,
+        // compiler libraries, ...) are built. Rustdoc does not require the presence of any
+        // libraries within sysroot_libdir (i.e., rustlib), though doctests may want it (since
+        // they'll be linked to those libraries). As such, don't explicitly `ensure` any additional
+        // libraries here. The intuition here is that If we've built a compiler, we should be able
+        // to build rustdoc.
 
         let mut cargo = prepare_tool_cargo(
             builder,