diff --git a/bpf/progs/bpf_net_helpers.h b/bpf/progs/bpf_net_helpers.h
index a86c3e6..a5664ba 100644
--- a/bpf/progs/bpf_net_helpers.h
+++ b/bpf/progs/bpf_net_helpers.h
@@ -139,6 +139,24 @@
     if (skb->data_end - skb->data < len) bpf_skb_pull_data(skb, len);
 }
 
+// anti-compiler-optimizer no-op: explicitly force full calculation of 'v'
+//
+// The use for this is to force full calculation of a complex arithmetic (likely binary
+// bitops) value, and then check the result only once (thus likely reducing the number
+// of required conditional jump instructions that badly affect bpf verifier runtime)
+//
+// The compiler cannot look into the assembly statement, so it doesn't know it does nothing.
+// Since the statement takes 'v' as both input and output in a register (+r),
+// the compiler must fully calculate the precise value of 'v' before this,
+// and must use the (possibly modified) value of 'v' afterwards (thus cannot
+// do funky optimizations to use partial results from before the asm).
+//
+// As this is not flagged 'volatile' this may still be moved out of a loop,
+// or even entirely optimized out if 'v' is never used afterwards.
+//
+// See: https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Extended-Asm.html
+#define COMPILER_FORCE_CALCULATION(v) asm ("" : "+r" (v))
+
 struct egress_bool { bool egress; };
 #define INGRESS ((struct egress_bool){ .egress = false })
 #define EGRESS ((struct egress_bool){ .egress = true })
diff --git a/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.c b/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.c
index 4084933..7809e3a 100644
--- a/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.c
+++ b/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.c
@@ -115,13 +115,28 @@
 
     if (!existing_rule) return; // impossible
 
-    if (v6_equal(src_ip, existing_rule->src_ip) &&
-        v6_equal(dst_ip, existing_rule->dst_ip) &&
-        skb->ifindex == existing_rule->ifindex &&
-        sport == existing_rule->src_port &&
-        dport == existing_rule->dst_port &&
-        protocol == existing_rule->proto) {
-        if (existing_rule->dscp_val < 0) return;
+    uint64_t nomatch = 0;
+    nomatch |= v6_not_equal(src_ip, existing_rule->src_ip);
+    nomatch |= v6_not_equal(dst_ip, existing_rule->dst_ip);
+    nomatch |= (skb->ifindex ^ existing_rule->ifindex);
+    nomatch |= (sport ^ existing_rule->src_port);
+    nomatch |= (dport ^ existing_rule->dst_port);
+    nomatch |= (protocol ^ existing_rule->proto);
+    COMPILER_FORCE_CALCULATION(nomatch);
+
+    /*
+     * After the above funky bitwise arithmetic we have 'nomatch == 0' iff
+     *   src_ip == existing_rule->src_ip &&
+     *   dst_ip == existing_rule->dst_ip &&
+     *   skb->ifindex == existing_rule->ifindex &&
+     *   sport == existing_rule->src_port &&
+     *   dport == existing_rule->dst_port &&
+     *   protocol == existing_rule->proto
+     */
+
+    if (!nomatch) {
+        if (existing_rule->dscp_val < 0) return;  // cached no-op
+
         if (ipv4) {
             uint8_t newTos = UPDATE_TOS(existing_rule->dscp_val, tos);
             bpf_l3_csum_replace(skb, l2_header_size + IP4_OFFSET(check), htons(tos), htons(newTos),
@@ -133,7 +148,7 @@
             bpf_skb_store_bytes(skb, l2_header_size, &new_first_be32, sizeof(__be32),
                 BPF_F_RECOMPUTE_CSUM);
         }
-        return;
+        return;  // cached DSCP mutation
     }
 
     // Linear scan ipv4_dscp_policies_map since no stored params match skb.
diff --git a/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.h b/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.h
index 6a6b711..413fb0f 100644
--- a/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.h
+++ b/bpf/progs/dscpPolicy.h
@@ -28,9 +28,6 @@
 #define v6_not_equal(a, b) ((v6_hi_be64(a) ^ v6_hi_be64(b)) \
                           | (v6_lo_be64(a) ^ v6_lo_be64(b)))
 
-// Returns 'a == b' as boolean
-#define v6_equal(a, b) (!v6_not_equal((a), (b)))
-
 typedef struct {
     struct in6_addr src_ip;
     struct in6_addr dst_ip;