diff --git a/tests/testlib/wakunode.nim b/tests/testlib/wakunode.nim
index 58b13bb471..732256ee23 100644
--- a/tests/testlib/wakunode.nim
+++ b/tests/testlib/wakunode.nim
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ proc defaultTestWakuNodeConf*(): WakuNodeConf =
     maxConnections: 50,
     maxMessageSize: "1024 KiB",
     clusterId: 1.uint32,
-    topics: @["/waku/2/rs/1/0"],
+    pubsubTopics: @["/waku/2/rs/1/0"],
     relay: true,
     storeMessageDbUrl: "sqlite://store.sqlite3",
   )
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ proc newTestWakuNode*(
     discv5UdpPort = none(Port),
     agentString = none(string),
     clusterId: uint32 = 1.uint32,
-    topics: seq[string] = @["/waku/2/rs/1/0"],
+    pubsubTopics: seq[string] = @["/waku/2/rs/1/0"],
     peerStoreCapacity = none(int),
 ): WakuNode =
   var resolvedExtIp = extIp
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ proc newTestWakuNode*(
   var conf = defaultTestWakuNodeConf()
 
   conf.clusterId = clusterId
-  conf.topics = topics
+  conf.pubsubTopics = pubsubTopics
 
   if dns4DomainName.isSome() and extIp.isNone():
     # If there's an error resolving the IP, an exception is thrown and test fails
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ proc newTestWakuNode*(
 
   var enrBuilder = EnrBuilder.init(nodeKey)
 
-  enrBuilder.withShardedTopics(topics).isOkOr:
+  enrBuilder.withShardedTopics(pubsubTopics).isOkOr:
     raise newException(Defect, "Invalid record: " & error)
 
   enrBuilder.withIpAddressAndPorts(
diff --git a/waku/factory/external_config.nim b/waku/factory/external_config.nim
index a31f31afa7..89bae81356 100644
--- a/waku/factory/external_config.nim
+++ b/waku/factory/external_config.nim
@@ -297,13 +297,6 @@ type WakuNodeConf* = object
       name: "keep-alive"
     .}: bool
 
-    topics* {.
-      desc:
-        "Default topic to subscribe to. Argument may be repeated. Deprecated! Please use pubsub-topic and/or content-topic instead.",
-      defaultValue: @["/waku/2/default-waku/proto"],
-      name: "topic"
-    .}: seq[string]
-
     pubsubTopics* {.
       desc: "Default pubsub topic to subscribe to. Argument may be repeated.",
       name: "pubsub-topic"
diff --git a/waku/factory/internal_config.nim b/waku/factory/internal_config.nim
index 51829a39b3..8b8a45f600 100644
--- a/waku/factory/internal_config.nim
+++ b/waku/factory/internal_config.nim
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ proc enrConfiguration*(
   let shards: seq[uint16] =
     # no shards configured
     if conf.shards.len == 0:
-      toSeq(0 ..< conf.topics.len).mapIt(uint16(it))
+      toSeq(0 ..< conf.pubsubTopics.len).mapIt(uint16(it))
     # some shards configured
     else:
       toSeq(conf.shards.mapIt(uint16(it)))
diff --git a/waku/factory/node_factory.nim b/waku/factory/node_factory.nim
index 9973036ccf..c2c3db0fd9 100644
--- a/waku/factory/node_factory.nim
+++ b/waku/factory/node_factory.nim
@@ -140,15 +140,9 @@ proc setupProtocols(
     peerExchangeHandler = some(handlePeerExchange)
 
   if conf.relay:
-    let pubsubTopics =
-      if conf.pubsubTopics.len > 0 or conf.contentTopics.len > 0:
-        # TODO autoshard content topics only once.
-        # Already checked for errors in app.init
-        let shards =
-          conf.contentTopics.mapIt(node.wakuSharding.getShard(it).expect("Valid Shard"))
-        conf.pubsubTopics & shards
-      else:
-        conf.topics
+    let shards =
+      conf.contentTopics.mapIt(node.wakuSharding.getShard(it).expect("Valid Shard"))
+    let pubsubTopics = conf.pubsubTopics & shards
 
     let parsedMaxMsgSize = parseMsgSize(conf.maxMessageSize).valueOr:
       return err("failed to parse 'max-num-bytes-msg-size' param: " & $error)