diff --git a/wnfs/src/private/directory.rs b/wnfs/src/private/directory.rs
index f1b90968..51e33bc3 100644
--- a/wnfs/src/private/directory.rs
+++ b/wnfs/src/private/directory.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ use chrono::{DateTime, Utc};
 use libipld_core::cid::Cid;
 use rand_core::CryptoRngCore;
 use std::{
+    cmp::Ordering,
     collections::{btree_map::Entry, BTreeMap, BTreeSet},
     fmt::Debug,
 };
@@ -1358,12 +1359,14 @@ impl PrivateDirectory {
     }
 
     /// TODO(matheus23): DOCS
-    pub(crate) fn merge(
+    pub(crate) async fn merge(
         self: &mut Arc<Self>,
         target_header: PrivateNodeHeader,
         our_cid: Cid,
         other: &Arc<Self>,
         other_cid: Cid,
+        forest: &impl PrivateForest,
+        store: &impl BlockStore,
     ) -> Result<()> {
         if our_cid == other_cid {
             return Ok(());
@@ -1371,6 +1374,8 @@ impl PrivateDirectory {
 
         let other_ratchet_diff = target_header.ratchet_diff_for_merge(&other.header)?;
 
+        let parent_name = Some(self.header.name.clone());
+
         let our = self.prepare_next_merge(our_cid, target_header)?;
 
         if our.content.previous.len() > 1 {
@@ -1403,13 +1408,45 @@ impl PrivateDirectory {
                 }
                 Entry::Occupied(mut occupied) => {
                     let our_link = occupied.get_mut();
+
                     // We just tie-break on the content cid.
                     // It's assumed both links have been resolved to their
                     // PrivateRef before, and we can tie-break on their content_cid.
                     // Otherwise, how would we have gotten `our_cid` and `other_cid`
                     // in this context? Both of these were gotten from `.store()`ing the
                     // nodes, which includes resolving the children to `PrivateRef`s.
-                    our_link.tie_break_with(other_link)?;
+                    let our_content_hash = our_link.crdt_tiebreaker()?;
+                    let other_content_hash = other_link.crdt_tiebreaker()?;
+
+                    let ord = our_content_hash.cmp(&other_content_hash);
+                    if ord == Ordering::Equal {
+                        // there's nothing for us to do, they're equal
+                    } else {
+                        let our_node = our_link
+                            .resolve_node_mut(forest, store, parent_name.clone())
+                            .await?;
+
+                        let other_node = other_link
+                            .resolve_node(forest, store, parent_name.clone())
+                            .await?;
+
+                        match (our_node, other_node) {
+                            (PrivateNode::Dir(_), PrivateNode::File(_)) => {
+                                // our node wins, we don't need to do anything.
+                            }
+                            (PrivateNode::File(_), PrivateNode::Dir(_)) => {
+                                // a directory wins over a file
+                                *our_link = other_link.clone();
+                            }
+                            // file vs. file and dir vs. dir cases
+                            _ => {
+                                // We tie-break as usual
+                                if ord == Ordering::Greater {
+                                    *our_link = other_link.clone();
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/wnfs/src/private/link.rs b/wnfs/src/private/link.rs
index 1c06d87f..fa3dcf7c 100644
--- a/wnfs/src/private/link.rs
+++ b/wnfs/src/private/link.rs
@@ -162,17 +162,6 @@ impl PrivateLink {
     pub(crate) fn crdt_tiebreaker(&self) -> Result<MultihashGeneric<64>> {
         Ok(*self.get_content_cid().ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("Impossible case: CRDT tiebreaker needed on node wasn't persisted before tie breaking"))?.hash())
     }
-
-    pub(crate) fn tie_break_with(&mut self, other_link: &PrivateLink) -> Result<()> {
-        let our_hash = self.crdt_tiebreaker()?;
-        let other_hash = other_link.crdt_tiebreaker()?;
-
-        if other_hash.digest() < our_hash.digest() {
-            *self = other_link.clone();
-        }
-
-        Ok(())
-    }
 }
 
 impl PartialEq for PrivateLink {
diff --git a/wnfs/src/private/node/node.rs b/wnfs/src/private/node/node.rs
index 5f4acf52..58e34e1b 100644
--- a/wnfs/src/private/node/node.rs
+++ b/wnfs/src/private/node/node.rs
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ impl PrivateNode {
                 Ok(head)
             } else {
                 // We need to create a merge node
-                Self::merge(header, (cid, head), unmerged_heads).await
+                Self::merge(header, (cid, head), unmerged_heads, forest, store).await
             }
         } else {
             // If None, then there's nothing to merge in (and this node was never stored)
@@ -423,6 +423,8 @@ impl PrivateNode {
         header: PrivateNodeHeader,
         (cid, node): (Cid, PrivateNode),
         nodes: BTreeMap<Cid, PrivateNode>,
+        forest: &impl PrivateForest,
+        store: &impl BlockStore,
     ) -> Result<PrivateNode> {
         match node {
             PrivateNode::File(mut file) => {
@@ -449,7 +451,8 @@ impl PrivateNode {
                     // Need to pass in rng & mutable forest access
                     // for the cases where we haven't yet written a node to
                     // the forest, but need its hash for tie-breaking.
-                    dir.merge(header.clone(), cid, &other_dir, other_cid)?;
+                    dir.merge(header.clone(), cid, &other_dir, other_cid, forest, store)
+                        .await?;
                 }
 
                 Ok(PrivateNode::Dir(dir))