diff --git a/tools/confutils/cli_args.nim b/tools/confutils/cli_args.nim
index e6b3fc97d..c7af0a0ec 100644
--- a/tools/confutils/cli_args.nim
+++ b/tools/confutils/cli_args.nim
@@ -206,22 +206,16 @@ type WakuNodeConf* = object
     .}: bool
 
     maxConnections* {.
-      desc: "Maximum allowed number of libp2p connections.",
-      defaultValue: 50,
+      desc: "Maximum allowed number of libp2p connections. (Default: 200) can't set it to less than 200",
+      defaultValue: 200, 
       name: "max-connections"
     .}: int
 
-    maxRelayPeers* {.
-      desc:
-        "Deprecated. Use relay-service-ratio instead. It represents the maximum allowed number of relay peers.",
-      name: "max-relay-peers"
-    .}: Option[int]
-
     relayServiceRatio* {.
       desc:
         "This percentage ratio represents the relay peers to service peers. For example, 60:40, tells that 60% of the max-connections will be used for relay protocol and the other 40% of max-connections will be reserved for other service protocols (e.g., filter, lightpush, store, metadata, etc.)",
       name: "relay-service-ratio",
-      defaultValue: "60:40" # 60:40 ratio of relay to service peers
+      defaultValue: "50:50"
     .}: string
 
     colocationLimit* {.
@@ -957,9 +951,6 @@ proc toWakuConf*(n: WakuNodeConf): ConfResult[WakuConf] =
   b.withExtMultiAddrsOnly(n.extMultiAddrsOnly)
   b.withMaxConnections(n.maxConnections)
 
-  if n.maxRelayPeers.isSome():
-    b.withMaxRelayPeers(n.maxRelayPeers.get())
-
   if n.relayServiceRatio != "":
     b.withRelayServiceRatio(n.relayServiceRatio)
   b.withColocationLimit(n.colocationLimit)
diff --git a/waku/factory/conf_builder/waku_conf_builder.nim b/waku/factory/conf_builder/waku_conf_builder.nim
index 645869247..e1c3703ff 100644
--- a/waku/factory/conf_builder/waku_conf_builder.nim
+++ b/waku/factory/conf_builder/waku_conf_builder.nim
@@ -208,7 +208,11 @@ proc withPeerStoreCapacity*(b: var WakuConfBuilder, peerStoreCapacity: int) =
   b.peerStoreCapacity = some(peerStoreCapacity)
 
 proc withMaxConnections*(b: var WakuConfBuilder, maxConnections: int) =
-  b.maxConnections = some(maxConnections)
+  if maxConnections < 200:
+    raise newException(ValueError, "maxConnections cannot be less than 200")
+    b.maxConnections = some(200)
+  else:
+    b.maxConnections = some(maxConnections)
 
 proc withDnsAddrsNameServers*(
     b: var WakuConfBuilder, dnsAddrsNameServers: seq[IpAddress]
@@ -248,9 +252,6 @@ proc withAgentString*(b: var WakuConfBuilder, agentString: string) =
 proc withColocationLimit*(b: var WakuConfBuilder, colocationLimit: int) =
   b.colocationLimit = some(colocationLimit)
 
-proc withMaxRelayPeers*(b: var WakuConfBuilder, maxRelayPeers: int) =
-  b.maxRelayPeers = some(maxRelayPeers)
-
 proc withRelayServiceRatio*(b: var WakuConfBuilder, relayServiceRatio: string) =
   b.relayServiceRatio = some(relayServiceRatio)
 
diff --git a/waku/node/peer_manager/peer_manager.nim b/waku/node/peer_manager/peer_manager.nim
index 1abcc1ac0..c2358763b 100644
--- a/waku/node/peer_manager/peer_manager.nim
+++ b/waku/node/peer_manager/peer_manager.nim
@@ -1041,7 +1041,7 @@ proc new*(
     wakuMetadata: WakuMetadata = nil,
     maxRelayPeers: Option[int] = none(int),
     maxServicePeers: Option[int] = none(int),
-    relayServiceRatio: string = "60:40",
+    relayServiceRatio: string = "50:50",
     storage: PeerStorage = nil,
     initialBackoffInSec = InitialBackoffInSec,
     backoffFactor = BackoffFactor,