diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index c0fd4c02fc..d3390f988e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
  * (Windows) fix startup when WMI memory query fails (CASSANDRA-7505)
  * Anti-compaction proceeds if any part of the repair failed (CASANDRA-7521)
 Merged from 2.0:
+ * Fix range merging when DES scores are zero (CASSANDRA-7535)
  * Warn when SSL certificates have expired (CASSANDRA-7528)
  * Fix error when doing reversed queries with static columns (CASSANDRA-7490)
 Merged from 1.2:
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/bin/word_count b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/bin/word_count
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/bin/word_count_counters b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/bin/word_count_counters
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/bin/word_count_setup b/examples/hadoop_cql3_word_count/bin/word_count_setup
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/DynamicEndpointSnitch.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/DynamicEndpointSnitch.java
index c76a196da5..32f52eec58 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/DynamicEndpointSnitch.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/DynamicEndpointSnitch.java
@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ public class DynamicEndpointSnitch extends AbstractEndpointSnitch implements ILa
     private int UPDATE_INTERVAL_IN_MS = DatabaseDescriptor.getDynamicUpdateInterval();
     private int RESET_INTERVAL_IN_MS = DatabaseDescriptor.getDynamicResetInterval();
     private double BADNESS_THRESHOLD = DatabaseDescriptor.getDynamicBadnessThreshold();
+
+    // the score for a merged set of endpoints must be this much worse than the score for separate endpoints to
+    // warrant not merging two ranges into a single range
+    private double RANGE_MERGING_PREFERENCE = 1.5;
+
     private String mbeanName;
     private boolean registered = false;
 
@@ -320,7 +325,7 @@ public class DynamicEndpointSnitch extends AbstractEndpointSnitch implements ILa
         if (maxMerged < 0 || maxL1 < 0 || maxL2 < 0)
             return true;
 
-        return maxMerged < maxL1 + maxL2;
+        return maxMerged <= (maxL1 + maxL2) * RANGE_MERGING_PREFERENCE;
     }
 
     // Return the max score for the endpoint in the provided list, or -1.0 if no node have a score.