diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 7094397f00..a2311f596a 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -121,10 +121,10 @@ akka {
     # 25 members.
     max-nr-of-instances-per-node = 1
 
-    # Defines if routees are to be deployed on the same node as the head router
-    # actor, or only on remote nodes.
+    # Defines if routees are allowed to be located on the same node as
+    # the head router actor, or only on remote nodes.
     # Useful for master-worker scenario where all routees are remote.
-    deploy-on-own-node = on
+    routees-on-own-node = on
 
     # Actor path of the routees to lookup with actorFor on the member
     # nodes in the cluster. E.g. "/user/myservice". If this isn't defined
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterActorRefProvider.scala
index e2824daffc..17e7cc0515 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ private[akka] class ClusterDeployer(_settings: ActorSystem.Settings, _pm: Dynami
           val clusterRouterSettings = ClusterRouterSettings(
             totalInstances = deploy.config.getInt("nr-of-instances"),
             maxInstancesPerNode = deploy.config.getInt("cluster.max-nr-of-instances-per-node"),
-            deployOnOwnNode = deploy.config.getBoolean("cluster.deploy-on-own-node"),
+            routeesOnOwnNode = deploy.config.getBoolean("cluster.routees-on-own-node"),
             routeesPath = deploy.config.getString("cluster.routees-path"))
 
           Some(deploy.copy(
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRouterConfig.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRouterConfig.scala
index 74b890ce7a..fa45341519 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRouterConfig.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRouterConfig.scala
@@ -71,9 +71,14 @@ case class ClusterRouterConfig(local: RouterConfig, settings: ClusterRouterSetti
 
 case class ClusterRouterSettings(
   totalInstances: Int,
-  maxInstancesPerNode: Int,
-  deployOnOwnNode: Boolean,
-  routeesPath: String) {
+  maxInstancesPerNode: Int = 1,
+  routeesOnOwnNode: Boolean = true,
+  routeesPath: String = "") {
+
+  if (totalInstances <= 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("totalInstances of cluster router must be > 0")
+  if (maxInstancesPerNode <= 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("maxInstancesPerNode of cluster router must be > 0")
+  if (isRouteesPathDefined && maxInstancesPerNode != 1)
+    throw new IllegalArgumentException("maxInstancesPerNode of cluster router must be 1 when routeesPath is defined")
 
   def isRouteesPathDefined: Boolean = ((routeesPath ne null) && routeesPath != "")
 }
@@ -131,7 +136,7 @@ private[akka] class ClusterRouteeProvider(
     val currentNodes = availbleNodes
     if (currentRoutees.size >= settings.totalInstances) {
       None
-    } else if (currentNodes.isEmpty && settings.deployOnOwnNode) {
+    } else if (currentNodes.isEmpty && settings.routeesOnOwnNode) {
       // use my own node, cluster information not updated yet
       Some(cluster.selfAddress)
     } else {
@@ -163,7 +168,7 @@ private[akka] class ClusterRouteeProvider(
   }
 
   private[routing] def isAvailble(m: Member): Boolean = {
-    m.status == MemberStatus.Up && (settings.deployOnOwnNode || m.address != cluster.selfAddress)
+    m.status == MemberStatus.Up && (settings.routeesOnOwnNode || m.address != cluster.selfAddress)
   }
 
 }
@@ -219,24 +224,29 @@ private[akka] class ClusterRouterActor extends Router {
 
 /**
  * Sugar to define cluster aware router programatically.
- * Usage Java API:
+ * Java API.
+ * When creating and deploying routees:
  * [[[
  * context.actorOf(ClusterRouterPropsDecorator.decorate(new Props(MyActor.class),
- *   new RoundRobinRouter(0), 10, 2, true), "myrouter");
+ *   new RoundRobinRouter(0), 10, 2), "myrouter");
+ * ]]]
+ * When looking up routees:
+ * [[[
+ * context.actorOf(ClusterRouterPropsDecorator.decorate(new Props(MyActor.class),
+ *   new RoundRobinRouter(0), 10, "/user/myservice"), "myrouter");
  * ]]]
  *
  * Corresponding for Scala API is found in [[akka.cluster.routing.ClusterRouterProps]].
  *
  */
 object ClusterRouterPropsDecorator {
-  def decorate(props: Props, router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, maxInstancesPerNode: Int,
-               deployOnOwnNode: Boolean): Props = {
-    props.withClusterRouter(router, totalInstances, maxInstancesPerNode, deployOnOwnNode)
-  }
+  def decorate(props: Props, router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, maxInstancesPerNode: Int): Props =
+    decorate(props, router, ClusterRouterSettings(totalInstances, maxInstancesPerNode))
 
-  def decorate(props: Props, router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, maxInstancesPerNode: Int,
-               deployOnOwnNode: Boolean, routeesPath: String): Props = {
-    props.withClusterRouter(router, totalInstances, maxInstancesPerNode, deployOnOwnNode, routeesPath)
-  }
+  def decorate(props: Props, router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, routeesPath: String): Props =
+    decorate(props, router, ClusterRouterSettings(totalInstances, routeesPath = routeesPath))
+
+  def decorate(props: Props, router: RouterConfig, settings: ClusterRouterSettings): Props =
+    props.withClusterRouter(router, settings)
 }
 
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/package.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/package.scala
index ece0d5d8ce..f16c6e839b 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/package.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/routing/package.scala
@@ -13,30 +13,34 @@ package object routing {
 
   /**
    * Sugar to define cluster aware router programatically.
-   * Usage Scala API:
+   *
+   * When creating and deploying routees:
    * [[[
    * import akka.cluster.routing.ClusterRouterProps
    * context.actorOf(Props[SomeActor].withClusterRouter(RoundRobinRouter(),
-   *   totalInstances = 10, maxInstancesPerNode = 2, deployOnOwnNode = true), "myrouter")
+   *   totalInstances = 10, maxInstancesPerNode = 2), "myrouter")
+   * ]]]
+   *
+   * When looking up routees:
+   * [[[
+   * import akka.cluster.routing.ClusterRouterProps
+   * context.actorOf(Props[SomeActor].withClusterRouter(RoundRobinRouter(),
+   *   totalInstances = 10, routeesPath = "/user/myservice"), "myrouter")
    * ]]]
    *
    * Corresponding for Java API is found in [[akka.cluster.routing.ClusterRouterPropsDecorator]].
    */
   implicit class ClusterRouterProps(val props: Props) extends AnyVal {
 
-    /*
-     * Without this helper it would look as ugly as:
-     * val router = RoundRobinRouter(nrOfInstances = 10)
-     * val actor = system.actorOf(Props[SomeActor].withRouter(router).withDeploy(
-     *  Deploy(routerConfig = ClusterRouterConfig(router, totalInstances = router.nrOfInstances, maxInstancesPerNode = 2,
-     *    deployOnOwnNode = true))), "myrouter")
-     */
+    def withClusterRouter(router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, maxInstancesPerNode: Int): Props =
+      withClusterRouter(router, ClusterRouterSettings(totalInstances, maxInstancesPerNode))
 
-    def withClusterRouter(router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, maxInstancesPerNode: Int,
-                          deployOnOwnNode: Boolean = true, routeesPath: String = ""): Props = {
+    def withClusterRouter(router: RouterConfig, totalInstances: Int, routeesPath: String): Props =
+      withClusterRouter(router, ClusterRouterSettings(totalInstances, routeesPath = routeesPath))
+
+    def withClusterRouter(router: RouterConfig, settings: ClusterRouterSettings): Props = {
       props.withRouter(router).withDeploy(
-        Deploy(routerConfig = ClusterRouterConfig(router,
-          ClusterRouterSettings(totalInstances, maxInstancesPerNode, deployOnOwnNode, routeesPath))))
+        Deploy(routerConfig = ClusterRouterConfig(router, settings)))
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorSpec.scala b/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorSpec.scala
index b291e48579..8ad38b1264 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/routing/ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorSpec.scala
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ object ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorMultiJvmSpec extends MultiNodeConfig {
           cluster {
             enabled = on
             max-nr-of-instances-per-node = 1
-            deploy-on-own-node = off
+            routees-on-own-node = off
           }
         }
         /router4 {
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ object ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorMultiJvmSpec extends MultiNodeConfig {
           nr-of-instances = 10
           cluster {
             enabled = on
-            max-nr-of-instances-per-node = 2
             routees-path = "/user/myservice"
           }
         }
@@ -92,7 +91,7 @@ abstract class ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorSpec extends MultiNodeSpec(ClusterRou
   lazy val router2 = {
     import akka.cluster.routing.ClusterRouterProps
     system.actorOf(Props[SomeActor].withClusterRouter(RoundRobinRouter(),
-      totalInstances = 3, maxInstancesPerNode = 1, deployOnOwnNode = true), "router2")
+      totalInstances = 3, maxInstancesPerNode = 1), "router2")
   }
   lazy val router3 = system.actorOf(Props[SomeActor].withRouter(RoundRobinRouter()), "router3")
   lazy val router4 = system.actorOf(Props[SomeActor].withRouter(RoundRobinRouter()), "router4")
@@ -206,7 +205,7 @@ abstract class ClusterRoundRobinRoutedActorSpec extends MultiNodeSpec(ClusterRou
       enterBarrier("after-5")
     }
 
-    "deploy routees to only remote nodes when deploy-on-own-node = off" taggedAs LongRunningTest in {
+    "deploy routees to only remote nodes when routees-on-own-node = off" taggedAs LongRunningTest in {
 
       runOn(first) {
         val iterationCount = 10
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeployerSpec.scala b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeployerSpec.scala
index 251f58ab90..a966e61fcd 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeployerSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/test/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeployerSpec.scala
@@ -14,12 +14,18 @@ object ClusterDeployerSpec {
   val deployerConf = ConfigFactory.parseString("""
       akka.actor.provider = "akka.cluster.ClusterActorRefProvider"
       akka.actor.deployment {
-        /user/service2 {
+        /user/service1 {
           router = round-robin
           nr-of-instances = 20
           cluster.enabled = on
           cluster.max-nr-of-instances-per-node = 3
-          cluster.deploy-on-own-node = off
+          cluster.routees-on-own-node = off
+        }
+        /user/service2 {
+          router = round-robin
+          nr-of-instances = 20
+          cluster.enabled = on
+          cluster.routees-on-own-node = off
           cluster.routees-path = "/user/myservice"
         }
       }
@@ -37,7 +43,20 @@ class ClusterDeployerSpec extends AkkaSpec(ClusterDeployerSpec.deployerConf) {
 
   "A RemoteDeployer" must {
 
-    "be able to parse 'akka.actor.deployment._' with specified cluster settings" in {
+    "be able to parse 'akka.actor.deployment._' with specified cluster lookup routee settings" in {
+      val service = "/user/service1"
+      val deployment = system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl].provider.deployer.lookup(service.split("/").drop(1))
+      deployment must not be (None)
+
+      deployment must be(Some(
+        Deploy(
+          service,
+          deployment.get.config,
+          ClusterRouterConfig(RoundRobinRouter(20), ClusterRouterSettings(20, 3, false, "")),
+          ClusterScope)))
+    }
+
+    "be able to parse 'akka.actor.deployment._' with specified cluster deploy routee settings" in {
       val service = "/user/service2"
       val deployment = system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl].provider.deployer.lookup(service.split("/").drop(1))
       deployment must not be (None)
@@ -46,7 +65,7 @@ class ClusterDeployerSpec extends AkkaSpec(ClusterDeployerSpec.deployerConf) {
         Deploy(
           service,
           deployment.get.config,
-          ClusterRouterConfig(RoundRobinRouter(20), ClusterRouterSettings(20, 3, false, "/user/myservice")),
+          ClusterRouterConfig(RoundRobinRouter(20), ClusterRouterSettings(20, 1, false, "/user/myservice")),
           ClusterScope)))
     }