diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub.nim
index b609c9a85..beee0be77 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub.nim
@@ -54,13 +54,13 @@ proc init*(_: type[GossipSubParams]): GossipSubParams =
       historyGossip: GossipSubHistoryGossip,
       fanoutTTL: GossipSubFanoutTTL,
       seenTTL: 2.minutes,
-      gossipThreshold: -10,
-      publishThreshold: -100,
+      gossipThreshold: -100,
+      publishThreshold: -1000,
       graylistThreshold: -10000,
       opportunisticGraftThreshold: 0,
       decayInterval: 1.seconds,
       decayToZero: 0.01,
-      retainScore: 10.seconds,
+      retainScore: 2.minutes,
       appSpecificWeight: 0.0,
       ipColocationFactorWeight: 0.0,
       ipColocationFactorThreshold: 1.0,
@@ -266,8 +266,18 @@ method subscribeTopic*(g: GossipSub,
 method rpcHandler*(g: GossipSub,
                   peer: PubSubPeer,
                   rpcMsg: RPCMsg) {.async.} =
+  # base will check the amount of subscriptions and process subscriptions
+  # also will update some metrics
   await procCall PubSub(g).rpcHandler(peer, rpcMsg)
 
+  # the above call applied limtis to subs number
+  # in gossipsub we want to apply scoring as well
+  if rpcMsg.subscriptions.len > g.topicsHigh:
+    debug "received an rpc message with an oversized amount of subscriptions",  peer,
+                                                                                size = rpcMsg.subscriptions.len,
+                                                                                limit = g.topicsHigh
+    peer.behaviourPenalty += 0.1
+
   for msg in rpcMsg.messages:                         # for every message
     let msgId = g.msgIdProvider(msg)
 
diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub/behavior.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub/behavior.nim
index 37ca392ce..aedacf0b1 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub/behavior.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub/behavior.nim
@@ -97,8 +97,7 @@ proc handleGraft*(g: GossipSub,
     # It is an error to GRAFT on a explicit peer
     if peer.peerId in g.parameters.directPeers:
       # receiving a graft from a direct peer should yield a more prominent warning (protocol violation)
-      debug "attempt to graft an explicit peer", peer=peer.peerId,
-                                                topic
+      warn "attempt to graft an explicit peer, peering agreements should be reciprocal", peer=peer.peerId, topic
       # and such an attempt should be logged and rejected with a PRUNE
       result.add(ControlPrune(
         topicID: topic,
@@ -117,8 +116,8 @@ proc handleGraft*(g: GossipSub,
     if  g.backingOff
           .getOrDefault(topic)
           .getOrDefault(peer.peerId) > Moment.now():
-      debug "attempt to graft a backingOff peer",  peer=peer.peerId,
-                                                  topic
+      debug "attempt to graft a backingOff peer",   peer=peer.peerId,
+                                                    topic
       # and such an attempt should be logged and rejected with a PRUNE
       result.add(ControlPrune(
         topicID: topic,
@@ -134,6 +133,7 @@ proc handleGraft*(g: GossipSub,
 
       continue
 
+    # Notice this might not be necessary anymore
     if peer.peerId notin g.peerStats:
       g.initPeerStats(peer)
 
@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ proc handleIHave*(g: GossipSub,
   elif peer.iHaveBudget <= 0:
     trace "ihave: ignoring out of budget peer", peer, score = peer.score
   else:
+    # TODO review deduplicate algorithm
+    # * https://github.com/nim-lang/Nim/blob/5f46474555ee93306cce55342e81130c1da79a42/lib/pure/collections/sequtils.nim#L184
+    # * it's probably not efficient and might give preference to the first dupe
     var deIhaves = ihaves.deduplicate()
     for ihave in deIhaves.mitems:
       trace "peer sent ihave",
diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim
index 5f6bf9dee..ac13675b3 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub.nim
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ type
     msgSeqno*: uint64
     anonymize*: bool                   # if we omit fromPeer and seqno from RPC messages we send
     subscriptionValidator*: SubscriptionValidator # callback used to validate subscriptions
+    topicsHigh*: int                  # the maximum number of topics we allow in a subscription message (application specific, defaults to int max)
 
     knownTopics*: HashSet[string]
 
@@ -207,11 +208,13 @@ method rpcHandler*(p: PubSub,
                    rpcMsg: RPCMsg) {.async, base.} =
   ## handle rpc messages
   trace "processing RPC message", msg = rpcMsg.shortLog, peer
-  for s in rpcMsg.subscriptions: # subscribe/unsubscribe the peer for each topic
-    trace "about to subscribe to topic", topicId = s.topic, peer
+  for i in 0..<min(rpcMsg.subscriptions.len, p.topicsHigh):
+    let s = rpcMsg.subscriptions[i]
+    trace "about to subscribe to topic", topicId = s.topic, peer, subscribe = s.subscribe
     p.subscribeTopic(s.topic, s.subscribe, peer)
 
-  for sub in rpcMsg.subscriptions:
+  for i in 0..<min(rpcMsg.subscriptions.len, p.topicsHigh):
+    let sub = rpcMsg.subscriptions[i]
     if sub.subscribe:
       if p.knownTopics.contains(sub.topic):
         libp2p_pubsub_received_subscriptions.inc(labelValues = [sub.topic])
@@ -520,7 +523,8 @@ proc init*[PubParams: object | bool](
         peers: initTable[PeerID, PubSubPeer](),
         topics: initTable[string, Topic](),
         msgIdProvider: msgIdProvider,
-        subscriptionValidator: subscriptionValidator)
+        subscriptionValidator: subscriptionValidator,
+        topicsHigh: int.high)
     else:
       P(switch: switch,
         peerInfo: switch.peerInfo,
@@ -532,7 +536,8 @@ proc init*[PubParams: object | bool](
         topics: initTable[string, Topic](),
         msgIdProvider: msgIdProvider,
         subscriptionValidator: subscriptionValidator,
-        parameters: parameters)
+        parameters: parameters,
+        topicsHigh: int.high)
 
   proc peerEventHandler(peerId: PeerID, event: PeerEvent) {.async.} =
     if event.kind == PeerEventKind.Joined:
diff --git a/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim b/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim
index 8a64fb954..b53ead7ce 100644
--- a/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim
+++ b/tests/pubsub/testgossipinternal.nim
@@ -485,3 +485,27 @@ suite "GossipSub internal":
 
     await allFuturesThrowing(conns.mapIt(it.close()))
     await gossipSub.switch.stop()
+
+  asyncTest "subscription limits":
+    let gossipSub = TestGossipSub.init(newStandardSwitch())
+    gossipSub.topicsHigh = 10
+
+    var tooManyTopics: seq[string]
+    for i in 0..gossipSub.topicsHigh + 10:
+      tooManyTopics &= "topic" & $i
+    let lotOfSubs = RPCMsg.withSubs(tooManyTopics, true)
+
+    let conn = newBufferStream(noop)
+    let peerInfo = randomPeerInfo()
+    conn.peerInfo = peerInfo
+    let peer = gossipSub.getPubSubPeer(peerInfo.peerId)
+    gossipSub.peers[peerInfo.peerId] = peer
+
+    await gossipSub.rpcHandler(peer, lotOfSubs)
+
+    check:
+      gossipSub.gossipSub.len == gossipSub.topicsHigh
+      peer.behaviourPenalty > 0.0
+
+    await conn.close()
+    await gossipSub.switch.stop()