diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/core/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 4798c62..faef714 100644
--- a/core/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -218,7 +218,8 @@ akka.persistence.dynamodb {
 
       # Set the retry mode. Can be `default`, `legacy`, `standard`, or `adaptive`.
       # See the documentation for the AWS SDK for Java for details.
-      retry-mode = default
+      # As of AWS SDK 2.25.59, the default for DynamoDB is `legacy`, which is not recommended
+      retry-mode = standard
 
       # Maximum number of times that a single request should be retried, assuming it fails for a retryable error.
       # Can be `default` for the default number of retries for the `retry-mode`, or override with a specific number.
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/dynamodb/util/ClientProviderSpec.scala b/core/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/dynamodb/util/ClientProviderSpec.scala
index 22e2b94..6c5107c 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/dynamodb/util/ClientProviderSpec.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/akka/persistence/dynamodb/util/ClientProviderSpec.scala
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ class ClientProviderSpec extends AnyWordSpec with Matchers with OptionValues {
       httpSettings.tcpKeepAlive shouldBe false
 
       val retryPolicy = overrideConfiguration.retryPolicy.toScala.value
-      retryPolicy.retryMode shouldBe RetryMode.LEGACY
-      retryPolicy.numRetries shouldBe 3
+      retryPolicy.retryMode shouldBe RetryMode.STANDARD
+      retryPolicy.numRetries shouldBe 2
 
       val compressionConfiguration = overrideConfiguration.compressionConfiguration.toScala.value
       compressionConfiguration.requestCompressionEnabled shouldBe true
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class ClientProviderSpec extends AnyWordSpec with Matchers with OptionValues {
         }
 
         retry-policy {
-          retry-mode = standard
+          retry-mode = legacy
           num-retries = 5
         }
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class ClientProviderSpec extends AnyWordSpec with Matchers with OptionValues {
       httpSettings.tcpKeepAlive shouldBe true
 
       val retryPolicy = overrideConfiguration.retryPolicy.toScala.value
-      retryPolicy.retryMode shouldBe RetryMode.STANDARD
+      retryPolicy.retryMode shouldBe RetryMode.LEGACY
       retryPolicy.numRetries shouldBe 5
 
       val compressionConfiguration = overrideConfiguration.compressionConfiguration.toScala.value