diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index d477b7fbca..246ba581de 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 4.1.3
 Merged from 4.0:
+ * Remove unnecessary shuffling of GossipDigests in Gossiper#makeRandomGossipDigest (CASSANDRA-18546)
 Merged from 3.11:
 Merged from 3.0:
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java
index bfd25dbb05..ae213c06fd 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ public class Gossiper implements IFailureDetectionEventListener, GossiperMBean
                     logger.trace("My heartbeat is now {}", endpointStateMap.get(FBUtilities.getBroadcastAddressAndPort()).getHeartBeatState().getHeartBeatVersion());
                 final List<GossipDigest> gDigests = new ArrayList<>();
 
-                Gossiper.instance.makeRandomGossipDigest(gDigests);
+                Gossiper.instance.makeGossipDigest(gDigests);
 
                 if (gDigests.size() > 0)
                 {
@@ -729,29 +729,29 @@ public class Gossiper implements IFailureDetectionEventListener, GossiperMBean
     }
 
     /**
-     * The gossip digest is built based on randomization
-     * rather than just looping through the collection of live endpoints.
-     *
-     * @param gDigests list of Gossip Digests.
+     * @param gDigests list of Gossip Digests to be filled
      */
-    private void makeRandomGossipDigest(List<GossipDigest> gDigests)
+    private void makeGossipDigest(List<GossipDigest> gDigests)
     {
         EndpointState epState;
-        int generation = 0;
-        int maxVersion = 0;
+        int generation;
+        int maxVersion;
 
         // local epstate will be part of endpointStateMap
-        List<InetAddressAndPort> endpoints = new ArrayList<>(endpointStateMap.keySet());
-        Collections.shuffle(endpoints, random);
-        for (InetAddressAndPort endpoint : endpoints)
+        for (Entry<InetAddressAndPort, EndpointState> entry : endpointStateMap.entrySet())
         {
-            epState = endpointStateMap.get(endpoint);
+            epState = entry.getValue();
             if (epState != null)
             {
                 generation = epState.getHeartBeatState().getGeneration();
                 maxVersion = getMaxEndpointStateVersion(epState);
             }
-            gDigests.add(new GossipDigest(endpoint, generation, maxVersion));
+            else
+            {
+                generation = 0;
+                maxVersion = 0;
+            }
+            gDigests.add(new GossipDigest(entry.getKey(), generation, maxVersion));
         }
 
         if (logger.isTraceEnabled())
@@ -2529,7 +2529,7 @@ public class Gossiper implements IFailureDetectionEventListener, GossiperMBean
         }
 
         final List<GossipDigest> gDigests = new ArrayList<GossipDigest>();
-        Gossiper.instance.makeRandomGossipDigest(gDigests);
+        Gossiper.instance.makeGossipDigest(gDigests);
 
         GossipDigestSyn digestSynMessage = new GossipDigestSyn(getClusterName(),
                 getPartitionerName(),