diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList.cs
index 6afdaa44d16..36faf3a82b7 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (C) 2011 Xamarin, Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright (C) 2011 Xamarin, Inc. All rights reserved.
 
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
@@ -12,13 +12,16 @@
 
 namespace Xamarin.Android.Tasks
 {
-	public class CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList : ToolTask
+	public class CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList : JavaToolTask
 	{
 		[Required]
 		public string ClassesOutputDirectory { get; set; }
 
 		[Required]
-		public string ProguardHome { get; set; }
+		public string ProguardJarPath { get; set; }
+
+		[Required]
+		public string AndroidSdkBuildToolsPath { get; set; }
 
 		[Required]
 		public ITaskItem[] JavaLibraries { get; set; }
@@ -26,6 +29,10 @@ public class CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList : ToolTask
 		public string MultiDexMainDexListFile { get; set; }
 		public ITaskItem[] CustomMainDexListFiles { get; set; }
 
+		Action<CommandLineBuilder> commandlineAction;
+		string tempJar;
+		bool writeOutputToKeepFile = false;
+
 		public override bool Execute ()
 		{
 			Log.LogDebugMessage ("CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList");
@@ -35,7 +42,7 @@ public override bool Execute ()
 			Log.LogDebugTaskItems ("  CustomMainDexListFiles:", CustomMainDexListFiles);
 			Log.LogDebugMessage ("  ToolExe: {0}", ToolExe);
 			Log.LogDebugMessage ("  ToolPath: {0}", ToolPath);
-			Log.LogDebugMessage ("  ProguardHome: {0}", ProguardHome);
+			Log.LogDebugMessage ("  ProguardJarPath: {0}", ProguardJarPath);
 
 			if (CustomMainDexListFiles != null && CustomMainDexListFiles.Any ()) {
 				var content = string.Concat (CustomMainDexListFiles.Select (i => File.ReadAllText (i.ItemSpec)));
@@ -43,37 +50,61 @@ public override bool Execute ()
 				return true;
 			}
 
-			EnvironmentVariables = MonoAndroidHelper.GetProguardEnvironmentVaribles (ProguardHome);
+			tempJar = Path.Combine (Path.GetTempPath (), Path.GetRandomFileName () + ".jar");
+			commandlineAction = GenerateProguardCommands;
+			// run proguard first
+			var retval = base.Execute ();
+			if (!retval || Log.HasLoggedErrors)
+				return false;
+
+			commandlineAction = GenerateMainDexListBuilderCommands;
+			// run java second
+
+			return base.Execute () && !Log.HasLoggedErrors; 
 
-			return base.Execute ();
 		}
 
 		protected override string GenerateCommandLineCommands ()
 		{
 			var cmd = new CommandLineBuilder ();
+			commandlineAction (cmd);
+			return cmd.ToString ();
+		}
 
-			cmd.AppendSwitch ("--output");
-			cmd.AppendFileNameIfNotNull (MultiDexMainDexListFile);
-
+		void GenerateProguardCommands (CommandLineBuilder cmd)
+		{
+			var enclosingChar = OS.IsWindows ? "\"" : string.Empty;
 			var jars = JavaLibraries.Select (i => i.ItemSpec).Concat (new string [] { ClassesOutputDirectory });
-			string files = string.Join (Path.PathSeparator.ToString (), jars.Select (s => '\'' + s + '\''));
-			if (OS.IsWindows)
-				cmd.AppendSwitch ('"' + files + '"');
-			else
-				cmd.AppendSwitch (files);
-
-			return cmd.ToString ();
+			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("-jar ", ProguardJarPath);
+			cmd.AppendSwitchUnquotedIfNotNull ("-injars ", $"{enclosingChar}'" + string.Join ($"'{Path.PathSeparator}'", jars) + $"'{enclosingChar}");
+			cmd.AppendSwitch ("-dontwarn");
+			cmd.AppendSwitch ("-forceprocessing");
+			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("-outjars ", tempJar);
+			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("-libraryjars ", $"'{Path.Combine (AndroidSdkBuildToolsPath, "lib", "shrinkedAndroid.jar")}'");
+			cmd.AppendSwitch ("-dontoptimize");
+			cmd.AppendSwitch ("-dontobfuscate");
+			cmd.AppendSwitch ("-dontpreverify");
+			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("-include ", $"'{Path.Combine (AndroidSdkBuildToolsPath, "mainDexClasses.rules")}'");
 		}
 
-		protected override string ToolName {
-			get {
-				return OS.IsWindows ? "mainDexClasses.bat" : "mainDexClasses";
-			}
+		void GenerateMainDexListBuilderCommands(CommandLineBuilder cmd)
+		{
+			var jars = JavaLibraries.Select (i => i.ItemSpec).Concat (new string [] { ClassesOutputDirectory });
+			cmd.AppendSwitchIfNotNull ("-Djava.ext.dirs=", Path.Combine (AndroidSdkBuildToolsPath, "lib"));
+			cmd.AppendSwitch ("com.android.multidex.MainDexListBuilder");
+			cmd.AppendSwitch (tempJar);
+			cmd.AppendSwitchUnquotedIfNotNull ("", "\"" + string.Join ($"{Path.PathSeparator}", jars) + "\"");
+			writeOutputToKeepFile = true;
 		}
 
-		protected override string GenerateFullPathToTool ()
+		protected override void LogEventsFromTextOutput (string singleLine, MessageImportance messageImportance)
 		{
-			return Path.Combine (ToolPath, ToolExe);
+			var match = CodeErrorRegEx.Match (singleLine);
+			var exceptionMatch = ExceptionRegEx.Match (singleLine);
+
+			if (writeOutputToKeepFile && !match.Success && !exceptionMatch.Success)
+				File.AppendAllText (MultiDexMainDexListFile, singleLine);
+			base.LogEventsFromTextOutput (singleLine, messageImportance);
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/JavaToolTask.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/JavaToolTask.cs
index c646005cc23..d6c34399623 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/JavaToolTask.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tasks/JavaToolTask.cs
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ at com.android.dx.command.dexer.Main.main(Main.java:215)
 			at com.android.dx.command.Main.main(Main.java:106)
 		*/
 		const string ExceptionRegExString = @"(?<exception>java.lang.+):(?<error>.+)";
-		Regex codeErrorRegEx = new Regex (CodeErrorRegExString, RegexOptions.Compiled);
-		Regex exceptionRegEx = new Regex (ExceptionRegExString, RegexOptions.Compiled);
+		protected static readonly Regex CodeErrorRegEx = new Regex (CodeErrorRegExString, RegexOptions.Compiled);
+		protected static readonly Regex ExceptionRegEx = new Regex (ExceptionRegExString, RegexOptions.Compiled);
 		bool foundError = false;
 		List<string> errorLines = new List<string> ();
 		StringBuilder errorText = new StringBuilder ();
@@ -114,8 +114,8 @@ void LogFromException (string exception, string error) {
 
 		bool ProcessOutput (string singleLine)
 		{
-			var match = codeErrorRegEx.Match (singleLine);
-			var exceptionMatch = exceptionRegEx.Match (singleLine);
+			var match = CodeErrorRegEx.Match (singleLine);
+			var exceptionMatch = ExceptionRegEx.Match (singleLine);
 
 			if (match.Success) {
 				if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty (file)) {
@@ -157,8 +157,8 @@ bool ProcessOutput (string singleLine)
 
 		protected override void LogEventsFromTextOutput (string singleLine, MessageImportance messageImportance)
 		{
-			var match = codeErrorRegEx.Match (singleLine);
-			var exceptionMatch = exceptionRegEx.Match (singleLine);
+			var match = CodeErrorRegEx.Match (singleLine);
+			var exceptionMatch = ExceptionRegEx.Match (singleLine);
 
 			if (match.Success || exceptionMatch.Success) {
 				Log.LogMessage (MessageImportance.High, singleLine);
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets
index ad5fdad002d..bf1d1f2eefb 100755
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets
@@ -1950,9 +1950,10 @@ because xbuild doesn't support framework reference assemblies.
 
   <CreateMultiDexMainDexClassList
     Condition="'$(AndroidEnableMultiDex)' == 'True' And '$(AndroidCustomMainDexListFile)' == ''"
-    ToolPath="$(MainDexClassesToolPath)"
-    ToolExe="$(MainDexClassesToolExe)"
-    ProguardHome="$(ProguardToolPath)"
+    ToolPath="$(JavaToolPath)"
+    ToolExe="$(JavaToolExe)"
+    ProguardJarPath="$(ProguardJarPath)"
+    AndroidSdkBuildToolsPath="$(AndroidSdkBuildToolsPath)"
     ClassesOutputDirectory="$(IntermediateOutputPath)android\bin\classes"
     JavaLibraries="@(_JavaLibrariesToCompile)"
     MultiDexMainDexListFile="$(_AndroidMainDexListFile)"