diff --git a/pkg/tide/tide.go b/pkg/tide/tide.go
index 4e2e07052..15a6856e9 100644
--- a/pkg/tide/tide.go
+++ b/pkg/tide/tide.go
@@ -1439,7 +1439,15 @@ func (c *syncController) takeAction(sp subpool, batchPending, successes, pending
 	// Merge the batch!
 	if len(batchMerges) > 0 {
 		merged, err = c.provider.mergePRs(sp, batchMerges, c.statusUpdate.dontUpdateStatus)
-		return MergeBatch, batchMerges, err
+		// If the entire batch failed to merge (e.g., due to conflicts), fall through
+		// to attempt merging individual PRs to break the tie.
+		if len(merged) > 0 {
+			return MergeBatch, batchMerges, err
+		}
+		if ok, pr := pickHighestPriorityPR(sp.log, batchMerges, sp.cc, c.isPassingTests, c.config().Tide.Priority); ok {
+			merged, err = c.provider.mergePRs(sp, []CodeReviewCommon{pr}, c.statusUpdate.dontUpdateStatus)
+			return Merge, []CodeReviewCommon{pr}, err
+		}
 	}
 	// Do not merge PRs while waiting for a batch to complete. We don't want to
 	// invalidate the old batch result.
diff --git a/pkg/tide/tide_test.go b/pkg/tide/tide_test.go
index d114dca55..17301380b 100644
--- a/pkg/tide/tide_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tide/tide_test.go
@@ -1959,6 +1959,17 @@ func testTakeAction(clients localgit.Clients, t *testing.T) {
 			action:           Trigger,
 			enableScheduling: true,
 		},
+		{
+			name:        "batch merge fails, falls back to individual PR merge (issue #474)",
+			batchMerges: []int{0, 1},
+			mergeErrs: map[int]error{
+				0: github.UnmergablePRError("merge conflict"),
+				1: github.UnmergablePRError("merge conflict"),
+			},
+			merged:    0,
+			triggered: 0,
+			action:    Merge,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testcases {