diff --git a/integration/apply_test.go b/integration/apply_test.go
index 87835ef37d9..e51ba3aca77 100644
--- a/integration/apply_test.go
+++ b/integration/apply_test.go
@@ -53,3 +53,25 @@ func TestDiagnoseRenderApply(t *testing.T) {
 		t.CheckNotNil(depWeb)
 	})
 }
+
+func TestRenderApplyHelmDeployment(t *testing.T) {
+	testutil.Run(t, "DiagnoseRenderApply", func(t *testutil.T) {
+		MarkIntegrationTest(t.T, NeedsGcp)
+		ns, client := SetupNamespace(t.T)
+
+		out := skaffold.Diagnose("--yaml-only").InDir("examples/helm-deployment").RunOrFailOutput(t.T)
+
+		tmpDir := testutil.NewTempDir(t.T)
+		tmpDir.Chdir()
+
+		tmpDir.Write("skaffold-diagnose.yaml", string(out))
+
+		out = skaffold.Render("--digest-source=local", "--add-skaffold-labels=false", "-f", "skaffold-diagnose.yaml").InNs(ns.Name).RunOrFailOutput(t.T)
+		tmpDir.Write("render.yaml", string(out))
+
+		skaffold.Apply("render.yaml", "-f", "skaffold-diagnose.yaml").InNs(ns.Name).RunOrFail(t.T)
+
+		depApp := client.GetDeployment("skaffold-helm")
+		t.CheckNotNil(depApp)
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new.go b/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new.go
index 3ead7812e4e..7426aa3540a 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new.go
@@ -316,6 +316,10 @@ func validateKubectlFlags(flags *latestV1.KubectlFlags, additional latestV1.Kube
 }
 
 func getDeployer(runCtx *runcontext.RunContext, labels map[string]string) (deploy.Deployer, error) {
+	if runCtx.Opts.Apply {
+		return getDefaultDeployer(runCtx, labels)
+	}
+
 	deployerCfg := runCtx.Deployers()
 
 	var deployers deploy.DeployerMux
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new_test.go b/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new_test.go
index 1163c088cc7..744edaaccdf 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new_test.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/runner/v1/new_test.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ func TestGetDeployer(tOuter *testing.T) {
 			cfg         latestV1.DeployType
 			helmVersion string
 			expected    deploy.Deployer
+			apply       bool
 			shouldErr   bool
 		}{
 			{
@@ -88,6 +89,27 @@ func TestGetDeployer(tOuter *testing.T) {
 					kpt.NewDeployer(&runcontext.RunContext{}, nil, &latestV1.KptDeploy{}),
 				},
 			},
+			{
+				description: "apply forces creation of kubectl deployer with kpt config",
+				cfg:         latestV1.DeployType{KptDeploy: &latestV1.KptDeploy{}},
+				apply:       true,
+				expected: t.RequireNonNilResult(kubectl.NewDeployer(&runcontext.RunContext{
+					Pipelines: runcontext.NewPipelines([]latestV1.Pipeline{{}}),
+				}, nil, &latestV1.KubectlDeploy{
+					Flags: latestV1.KubectlFlags{},
+				})).(deploy.Deployer),
+			},
+			{
+				description: "apply forces creation of kubectl deployer with helm config",
+				cfg:         latestV1.DeployType{HelmDeploy: &latestV1.HelmDeploy{}},
+				helmVersion: `version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.0.0"}`,
+				apply:       true,
+				expected: t.RequireNonNilResult(kubectl.NewDeployer(&runcontext.RunContext{
+					Pipelines: runcontext.NewPipelines([]latestV1.Pipeline{{}}),
+				}, nil, &latestV1.KubectlDeploy{
+					Flags: latestV1.KubectlFlags{},
+				})).(deploy.Deployer),
+			},
 			{
 				description: "multiple deployers",
 				cfg: latestV1.DeployType{
@@ -111,6 +133,9 @@ func TestGetDeployer(tOuter *testing.T) {
 				}
 
 				deployer, err := getDeployer(&runcontext.RunContext{
+					Opts: config.SkaffoldOptions{
+						Apply: test.apply,
+					},
 					Pipelines: runcontext.NewPipelines([]latestV1.Pipeline{{
 						Deploy: latestV1.DeployConfig{
 							DeployType: test.cfg,