diff --git a/benchmarks/zap_test.go b/benchmarks/zap_test.go
index 92f7120ec..84784152c 100644
--- a/benchmarks/zap_test.go
+++ b/benchmarks/zap_test.go
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func newZapLogger(lvl zapcore.Level) *zap.Logger {
 }
 
 func newSampledLogger(lvl zapcore.Level) *zap.Logger {
-	return zap.New(zapcore.NewSampler(
+	return zap.New(zapcore.NewSamplerWithOptions(
 		newZapLogger(zap.DebugLevel).Core(),
 		100*time.Millisecond,
 		10, // first
diff --git a/zapcore/sampler.go b/zapcore/sampler.go
index dc11611ab..f1c60d0ac 100644
--- a/zapcore/sampler.go
+++ b/zapcore/sampler.go
@@ -159,7 +159,18 @@ type sampler struct {
 	hook              func(Entry, SamplingDecision) error
 }
 
-// NewSampler is deprecated: use NewSamplerWithOptions.
+// NewSampler creates a Core that samples incoming entries, which
+// caps the CPU and I/O load of logging while attempting to preserve a
+// representative subset of your logs.
+//
+// Zap samples by logging the first N entries with a given level and message
+// each tick. If more Entries with the same level and message are seen during
+// the same interval, every Mth message is logged and the rest are dropped.
+//
+// Keep in mind that zap's sampling implementation is optimized for speed over
+// absolute precision; under load, each tick may be slightly over- or
+// under-sampled.
+// Deprecated: use NewSamplerWithOptions.
 func NewSampler(core Core, tick time.Duration, first, thereafter int) Core {
 	return &sampler{
 		Core:       core,
diff --git a/zapcore/sampler_test.go b/zapcore/sampler_test.go
index e4e2a9be2..71db0f9bd 100644
--- a/zapcore/sampler_test.go
+++ b/zapcore/sampler_test.go
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ import (
 
 func fakeSampler(lvl LevelEnabler, tick time.Duration, first, thereafter int) (Core, *observer.ObservedLogs) {
 	core, logs := observer.New(lvl)
-	core = NewSamplerWithOptions(core, tick, first, thereafter)
+	// Keep using deprecated constructor for cc.
+	core = NewSampler(core, tick, first, thereafter)
 	return core, logs
 }