diff --git a/internal/proxy/engine.go b/internal/proxy/engine.go
index c39ca98..5040ead 100644
--- a/internal/proxy/engine.go
+++ b/internal/proxy/engine.go
@@ -760,13 +760,41 @@ func (e *Engine) baseURLAttemptOrder(remote models.Remote) []string {
 		ordered[i] = urls[(start+i)%len(urls)]
 	}
 	if remote.MirrorStrategy == models.MirrorStrategyLeastConn {
-		sort.SliceStable(ordered, func(a, b int) bool {
-			return e.inflightCounter(remote.Name, ordered[a]).Load() < e.inflightCounter(remote.Name, ordered[b]).Load()
+		// Snapshot each mirror's in-flight count once, then sort the snapshot.
+		// Reading the gauge inside the comparator would repeat an allocating
+		// sync.Map lookup on every comparison (O(n log n) lookups); this is O(n).
+		snap := make([]inflightSnapshot, len(ordered))
+		for i, url := range ordered {
+			snap[i] = inflightSnapshot{url: url, count: e.inflightCount(remote.Name, url)}
+		}
+		sort.SliceStable(snap, func(a, b int) bool {
+			return snap[a].count < snap[b].count
 		})
+		for i := range snap {
+			ordered[i] = snap[i].url
+		}
 	}
 	return ordered
 }
 
+// inflightSnapshot pairs a mirror URL with its sampled in-flight count so the
+// least_conn sort compares plain ints instead of re-reading the gauge.
+type inflightSnapshot struct {
+	url   string
+	count int64
+}
+
+// inflightCount reads the in-flight request gauge for a given (remote, upstream
+// URL) without creating it, returning 0 when the counter is absent. This keeps
+// the selection read path allocation-free (plain Load, no LoadOrStore).
+func (e *Engine) inflightCount(remoteName, url string) int64 {
+	v, ok := e.inflight.Load(remoteName + "\x00" + url)
+	if !ok {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return v.(*atomic.Int64).Load()
+}
+
 // inflightCounter returns the shared in-flight request gauge for a given
 // (remote, upstream URL), creating it on first use.
 func (e *Engine) inflightCounter(remoteName, url string) *atomic.Int64 {
diff --git a/internal/proxy/leastconn_test.go b/internal/proxy/leastconn_test.go
index 097f921..e47a28d 100644
--- a/internal/proxy/leastconn_test.go
+++ b/internal/proxy/leastconn_test.go
@@ -40,6 +40,51 @@ func TestLeastConnPicksLeastLoaded(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestLeastConnStableTieBreak asserts that when every mirror carries equal
+// in-flight load, least_conn falls back to the round-robin rotation: the
+// snapshot sort is stable, so tied mirrors keep the RR-rotated order and the
+// starting pick advances across the whole pool on successive calls.
+func TestLeastConnStableTieBreak(t *testing.T) {
+	e := &Engine{}
+	r := models.Remote{
+		Name:           "lc-tie",
+		BaseURL:        "https://a.example",
+		Mirrorlist:     []string{"https://b.example", "https://c.example"},
+		MirrorStrategy: models.MirrorStrategyLeastConn,
+	}
+	pool := r.UpstreamPool()
+
+	// Equal (zero) load on every mirror: order must equal the RR rotation.
+	starts := map[string]int{}
+	for i := 0; i < len(pool); i++ {
+		order := e.baseURLAttemptOrder(r)
+		if len(order) != len(pool) {
+			t.Fatalf("attempt %d: order len = %d, want %d", i, len(order), len(pool))
+		}
+		// A stable sort of an all-tied slice is a pure RR rotation: for the
+		// call whose cursor selects start s, order must be pool rotated by s.
+		start := indexOf(pool, order[0])
+		for j := range order {
+			if want := pool[(start+j)%len(pool)]; order[j] != want {
+				t.Fatalf("attempt %d: order[%d] = %q, want RR-rotated %q", i, j, order[j], want)
+			}
+		}
+		starts[order[0]]++
+	}
+	if len(starts) != len(pool) {
+		t.Fatalf("tied least_conn did not rotate across the whole pool: %v", starts)
+	}
+}
+
+func indexOf(s []string, v string) int {
+	for i := range s {
+		if s[i] == v {
+			return i
+		}
+	}
+	return -1
+}
+
 // TestRoundRobinDefaultUnchanged asserts an unset strategy still rotates the
 // starting mirror across the pool and ignores the in-flight gauge.
 func TestRoundRobinDefaultUnchanged(t *testing.T) {