Hybrid class

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Tactics
Partying Instancing
Group Roles
Leader
Primary Function
Tank  Healer  Damage dealer
Secondary Function
Crowd control  Main assist  Puller  Rezzer  Scout
Related
Aggro Hybrid classes Meeting Stone Pickup group Wipe

Hybrid classes are classes which carry elements of the three core types: tank, healer, or nuker. Realistically, no character can tank, heal, and nuke at the same time, but hybrids are frequently flexible enough to serve in one role or another (no matter what spec they have), if they've collected the gear required to serve that function.

Many limit the term hybrid to the druid, paladin, and shaman. The definition here would be any class that has a spec to improve healing that is also able to wear heavier-than-cloth armor.

It is also sometimes taken as any class that isn't one of the classes that can serve only one function, no matter what spec. Rogues and mages would be pretty much the only two classes that can't do anything other than simple dps and crowd control (in some ways, hunters fit here too). Taken in such a way, it usually is used to belittle the hybrid to discourage him from looting an item that a "less hybrid" class character could use. But realistically, not all classes serve in their token roles, such as a priest as healer, warrior as tank, and so on. Traditionally, warriors frequently have complained most about this, with paladins sometimes rolling against them.

World of Warcraft has several hybrid classes, as listed below.

Druid

The Druid is a hybrid of scout, tank, healer, and nuker.

Advantages

• Excellent healing abilities.
• Arguably the most powerful buffs in the game make for more effective parties.
• Shapeshift ability allows druid to serve as a tank (Bear/Dire Bear form) and increases survivability if drawing aggro by accident, can scout (Cat form).
• Crowd-control abilities allow a well-played druid to manage aggro in a group situation.
• Only class with combat usable res.
• Can root virtually any mob (only usable outdoors, which means in an exceptionally few instances).
• Moonkin form (tier 7 balance talent) has a caster buff aura.
• Leader of the Pack (tier 7 feral talent) has a physical damage buff aura.

Disadvantages

• Lightly armored, just a little better than a cloth wearer, next to no survivability vs. elite if out of mana unless feral specced and geared.
• In a large group, the druid will not tank as well against a raid level boss as a warrior or nuke as well as a mage, so he shouldn't be considered a complete replacement for any of those classes.
• Rebirth, a combat resurrect, is on a 30 minute timer.

Hunter

The Hunter is a DPS class with tank abilities. A good puller class.

Advantages

• Good DPS usable at range, and are the only ranged class that deal physical damage.
• Can effectively continue to DPS even when low on mana, and can regain mana quickly at higher levels.
• Pets usually serve as substitute tanks, and are fairly easy to replace. When properly specced, pets can be a menace to casters in PvP.
• Trueshot Aura (tier 7 Marskmanship talent) buffs all party physical damage.
• Various methods of scouting, including Tracking, Eyes of the Beast and Eyes of the Hawk.

Disadvantages

• Pet is based on hunter level, so is not usually as powerful as the opponents in a group hunting situation.
• Healing can only be used on pet.

Paladin

The Paladin is a hybrid of tank and healer.

Advantages

• Armored in plate, paladins can take a lot of punishment, and are widely regarded as the single hardest class to kill.
• Ability to heal and resurrect makes them sometimes vital to a party.
• Wide variety of important buffs for all classes.
• Several auras with various beneficial effects for the party.
• One of 3 classes capable of recovering the raid with their Divine Intervention (the other being Warlocks and Shaman).
• Great tanks, having Consecration, Holy Shield, and Righteous Defense avaliable to them.

Disadvantages

• Very little in the way of ranged attacks.
• Lowest DPS output of any class specced for it, except when fighting Undead or Demons, against which they have some of the highest damage output.

Priest

The Priest is a mixture of a healing and DPS class with buffs as well.

Advantages

• Considered the best healing class overall, while other hybrids are competetive in particular areas, the priest is an excellent healer for just about any situation
• Shadow priests provide good DPS, as well as healing with the Vampiric Embrace talent, mana recovery with Vampiric Touch, and abilities to increase damage from other classes on an enemy.
• A wide variety of utility and defensive spells, including Mana Burn, mind Control, Power Word: Shield, help party survivability and effectiveness.
• Several escape and aggro lowering abilities, Psychic Scream, Fade, though psychic scream is not very useful in instances.

Disadvantages

• Cloth armor and no pets leave priests more easily damaged than other hybrid classes, though they do have defensive abilities such as Inner Fire.
• In shadowform, has no healing aside from Vampiric Embrace

Shaman

The Shaman is a hybrid of healer, melee DPSer and nuker.

Advantages

• Very versatile, considered the true hybrid class
• A wide variety of totems can be used to buff party members and debuff opponents
• Ability to heal and resurrect makes them very useful to a party.
• Powerful, instant-cast direct damage Shock spells with secondary effects (slow, damage over time, and interruption of spellcasting)
• Only class capable of solo-recovering a raid via Reincarnation, albeit only once per hour. A Warlock's Soulstone and a Paladin's divine intervention both need the caster and a target, as Paladins can not DI themselves and Warlocks can't resurrect the raid should they Soulstone themselves.

Disadvantages

• Jack-of-all-trades, but master of none. Does not tank as well as a warrior, nuke as well as a mage, melee DPS as well as a rogue, or heal as well as a priest, even when trying to specialize for one of these roles.
• Stationary totems that can only affect party members, not a raid.
• Mana-inefficient

Warlock

The Warlock is a nuker with tank abilities. A decent puller.

Advantages

• Pets add to the firepower of the party and number of targets available to the enemy; variety of pets can fill roles vs. caster/melee/humanoid mobs.
• Can switch pets during a run at the cost of shard(s) if one particular pet is especially needed for a specific encounter.
• DoT spells are ideal against opponents that like to run away when heavily damaged and for steady damage in boss fights where burst damage can get you killed.
• Can make a Soulstone which will allow one party member to self-res for 30 minutes. Good to put on primary healer so they can res the group after a wipe.
• A Master Demonologist Warlock using the Voidwalker with Soul Link has roughly 50% damage mitigation.

Disadvantages

• Not really a true nuke class, as most of their spells are DoT rather than sheer damage.
• High level pets (Infernal and Doomguard) are inneffective at accomplishing anything but causing chaos.
• Management of Soul Shards can be difficult and take inventory space away from necessary items.

Not a Lot of Hybrid Classes

Rob Pardo said it was their goal to not have a lot of hybrid classes. Because of this, the Death-Knight and Necromancer classes, which were originally slated for, got the axe early on.