diff --git a/posting/oracle.go b/posting/oracle.go
index fada9ec260f..adc4045b075 100644
--- a/posting/oracle.go
+++ b/posting/oracle.go
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ func (txn *Txn) Get(key []byte) (*List, error) {
 	return txn.cache.Get(key)
 }
 
+// GetFromDelta retrieves the posting list from delta cache, not from Badger.
+func (txn *Txn) GetFromDelta(key []byte) (*List, error) {
+	return txn.cache.GetFromDelta(key)
+}
+
 // Update calls UpdateDeltasAndDiscardLists on the local cache.
 func (txn *Txn) Update() {
 	txn.cache.UpdateDeltasAndDiscardLists()
diff --git a/worker/mutation.go b/worker/mutation.go
index 41b335c5662..63eb54fa2d2 100644
--- a/worker/mutation.go
+++ b/worker/mutation.go
@@ -75,9 +75,34 @@ func runMutation(ctx context.Context, edge *pb.DirectedEdge, txn *posting.Txn) e
 		return err
 	}
 
-	t := time.Now()
 	key := x.DataKey(edge.Attr, edge.Entity)
-	plist, err := txn.Get(key)
+	// The following is a performance optimization which allows us to not read a posting list from
+	// disk. We calculate this based on how AddMutationWithIndex works. The general idea is that if
+	// we're not using the read posting list, we don't need to retrieve it. We need the posting list
+	// if we're doing indexing or count index or enforcing single UID, etc. In other cases, we can
+	// just create a posting list facade in memory and use it to store the delta in Badger. Later,
+	// the rollup operation would consolidate all these deltas into a posting list.
+	var getFn func(key []byte) (*posting.List, error)
+	switch {
+	case len(su.GetTokenizer()) > 0 || su.GetCount():
+		// Any index or count index.
+		getFn = txn.Get
+	case su.GetValueType() == pb.Posting_UID && !su.GetList():
+		// Single UID, not a list.
+		getFn = txn.Get
+	case edge.Op == pb.DirectedEdge_DEL:
+		// Covers various delete cases to keep things simple.
+		getFn = txn.Get
+	default:
+		// Reverse index doesn't need the posting list to be read. We already covered count index,
+		// single uid and delete all above.
+		// Values, whether single or list, don't need to be read.
+		// Uid list doesn't need to be read.
+		getFn = txn.GetFromDelta
+	}
+
+	t := time.Now()
+	plist, err := getFn(key)
 	if dur := time.Since(t); dur > time.Millisecond {
 		if span := otrace.FromContext(ctx); span != nil {
 			span.Annotatef([]otrace.Attribute{otrace.BoolAttribute("slow-get", true)},
@@ -87,11 +112,7 @@ func runMutation(ctx context.Context, edge *pb.DirectedEdge, txn *posting.Txn) e
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-
-	if err = plist.AddMutationWithIndex(ctx, edge, txn); err != nil {
-		return err // abort applying the rest of them.
-	}
-	return nil
+	return plist.AddMutationWithIndex(ctx, edge, txn)
 }
 
 // This is serialized with mutations, called after applied watermarks catch up