diff --git a/src/emqx_shared_sub.erl b/src/emqx_shared_sub.erl
index f2feceaf0..9eb2b1d5b 100644
--- a/src/emqx_shared_sub.erl
+++ b/src/emqx_shared_sub.erl
@@ -286,15 +286,17 @@ do_pick(Strategy, ClientId, SourceTopic, Group, Topic, FailedSubs) ->
             %% Genuinely no subscriber
             false;
         [] ->
-            %% All offline? pick one anyway
-            %% We redispatch only to subs who dropped the message because inflight was full.
+            %% We try redispatch to subs who dropped the message because inflight was full.
             Found = maps_find_by(FailedSubs, fun({SubPid, FailReason}) ->
                 FailReason == dropped andalso is_alive_sub(SubPid)
             end),
             case Found of
-                error -> false;
                 {ok, Dropped} ->
-                    {retry, pick_subscriber(Group, Topic, Strategy, ClientId, SourceTopic, [Dropped])}
+                    %% Found dropped client
+                    {retry, pick_subscriber(Group, Topic, Strategy, ClientId, SourceTopic, [Dropped])};
+                error ->
+                    %% All offline? pick one anyway
+                    {retry, pick_subscriber(Group, Topic, Strategy, ClientId, SourceTopic, All)}
             end;
         Subs ->
             %% More than one available