diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientNodesService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientNodesService.java
index 17e361edef62e..a3ed6da3947b0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientNodesService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientNodesService.java
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ public void onResponse(Response response) {
         public void onFailure(Throwable e) {
             if (ExceptionsHelper.unwrapCause(e) instanceof ConnectTransportException) {
                 int i = ++this.i;
-                if (i == nodes.size()) {
+                if (i >= nodes.size()) {
                     listener.onFailure(new NoNodeAvailableException());
                 } else {
                     try {
@@ -296,6 +296,28 @@ public void sample() {
         }
 
         protected abstract void doSample();
+
+        /**
+         * validates a set of potentially newly discovered nodes and returns an immutable
+         * list of the nodes that has passed.
+         */
+        protected ImmutableList<DiscoveryNode> validateNewNodes(Set<DiscoveryNode> nodes) {
+            for (Iterator<DiscoveryNode> it = nodes.iterator(); it.hasNext(); ) {
+                DiscoveryNode node = it.next();
+                if (!transportService.nodeConnected(node)) {
+                    try {
+                        logger.trace("connecting to node [{}]", node);
+                        transportService.connectToNode(node);
+                    } catch (Throwable e) {
+                        it.remove();
+                        logger.debug("failed to connect to discovered node [" + node + "]", e);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
+            return new ImmutableList.Builder<DiscoveryNode>().addAll(nodes).build();
+        }
+
     }
 
     class ScheduledNodeSampler implements Runnable {
@@ -317,17 +339,19 @@ class SimpleNodeSampler extends NodeSampler {
         @Override
         protected void doSample() {
             HashSet<DiscoveryNode> newNodes = new HashSet<DiscoveryNode>();
-            for (DiscoveryNode node : listedNodes) {
-                if (!transportService.nodeConnected(node)) {
+            for (DiscoveryNode listedNode : listedNodes) {
+                if (!transportService.nodeConnected(listedNode)) {
                     try {
-                        transportService.connectToNode(node);
+                        // its a listed node, light connect to it...
+                        logger.trace("connecting to listed node (light) [{}]", listedNode);
+                        transportService.connectToNodeLight(listedNode);
                     } catch (Throwable e) {
-                        logger.debug("failed to connect to node [{}], removed from nodes list", e, node);
+                        logger.debug("failed to connect to node [{}], removed from nodes list", e, listedNode);
                         continue;
                     }
                 }
                 try {
-                    NodesInfoResponse nodeInfo = transportService.submitRequest(node, NodesInfoAction.NAME,
+                    NodesInfoResponse nodeInfo = transportService.submitRequest(listedNode, NodesInfoAction.NAME,
                             Requests.nodesInfoRequest("_local"),
                             TransportRequestOptions.options().withType(TransportRequestOptions.Type.STATE).withTimeout(pingTimeout),
                             new FutureTransportResponseHandler<NodesInfoResponse>() {
@@ -337,16 +361,26 @@ public NodesInfoResponse newInstance() {
                                 }
                             }).txGet();
                     if (!ignoreClusterName && !clusterName.equals(nodeInfo.getClusterName())) {
-                        logger.warn("node {} not part of the cluster {}, ignoring...", node, clusterName);
+                        logger.warn("node {} not part of the cluster {}, ignoring...", listedNode, clusterName);
+                    } else if (nodeInfo.getNodes().length != 0) {
+                        // use discovered information but do keep the original transport address, so people can control which address
+                        // is exactly used.
+
+                        DiscoveryNode nodeWithInfo = nodeInfo.getNodes()[0].getNode();
+                        newNodes.add(new DiscoveryNode(nodeWithInfo.name(), nodeWithInfo.id(), listedNode.address(), nodeWithInfo.attributes(), nodeWithInfo.version()));
                     } else {
-                        newNodes.add(node);
+                        // although we asked for one node, our target may not have completed initialization yet and doesn't have
+                        // cluster nodes
+                        logger.debug("node {} didn't return any discovery info, temporarily using transport discovery node", listedNode);
+                        newNodes.add(listedNode);
                     }
                 } catch (Exception e) {
-                    logger.info("failed to get node info for {}, disconnecting...", e, node);
-                    transportService.disconnectFromNode(node);
+                    logger.info("failed to get node info for {}, disconnecting...", e, listedNode);
+                    transportService.disconnectFromNode(listedNode);
                 }
             }
-            nodes = new ImmutableList.Builder<DiscoveryNode>().addAll(newNodes).build();
+
+            nodes = validateNewNodes(newNodes);
         }
     }
 
@@ -442,20 +476,8 @@ public void handleException(TransportException e) {
                     newNodes.add(node);
                 }
             }
-            // now, make sure we are connected to all the updated nodes
-            for (Iterator<DiscoveryNode> it = newNodes.iterator(); it.hasNext(); ) {
-                DiscoveryNode node = it.next();
-                if (!transportService.nodeConnected(node)) {
-                    try {
-                        logger.trace("connecting to node [{}]", node);
-                        transportService.connectToNode(node);
-                    } catch (Throwable e) {
-                        it.remove();
-                        logger.debug("failed to connect to discovered node [" + node + "]", e);
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            nodes = new ImmutableList.Builder<DiscoveryNode>().addAll(newNodes).build();
+
+            nodes = validateNewNodes(newNodes);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d9095576bb7f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClientTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package org.elasticsearch.client.transport;
+/*
+ * Licensed to ElasticSearch under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. ElasticSearch licenses this
+ * file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchIntegrationTest;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchIntegrationTest.ClusterScope;
+import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+@ClusterScope(scope = ElasticsearchIntegrationTest.Scope.TEST, numNodes = 0, transportClientRatio = 1.0)
+public class TransportClientTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testPickingUpChangesInDiscoveryNode() {
+        String nodeName = cluster().startNode(ImmutableSettings.builder().put("node.data", false));
+
+        TransportClient client = (TransportClient) cluster().client(nodeName);
+        assertThat(client.connectedNodes().get(0).dataNode(), Matchers.equalTo(false));
+
+    }
+}