The hybrid tax in WoW Forever: about 5% less damage for hybrid DPS specs, and Warriors count

2026-10-09 · ForeverDB

On the WoW: Forever Podcast the developers said their target is about 5% less damage for hybrid DPS specs than for Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks, and that Warriors count as hybrids because they can tank. Here is who pays it, what 5% means in a fight, why Shadow Priest healing counts, and why players are pushing back. It is a design target, not a number in the client.

This comes from an official World of Warcraft video, episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast, posted on Blizzard's YouTube channel on October 1. The quotes are copied from the video's captions, with timestamps. Damage tuning is done on Blizzard's servers, so the 5% figure can't be checked in the beta client files, and Blizzard hasn't written it into any patch notes.

"Hybrid tax" is an old World of Warcraft idea: a class that can do more than one job (damage, healing, tanking) does a little less damage than a class that can only do damage. In episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast the developers were asked about it head-on. Their answer has two parts that sound like they contradict each other, and that is why it has caused so many forum threads: they don't believe in a hybrid tax the way it worked in 2004, but they still want hybrid DPS specs to do about 5% less damage than the pure ones.

The short version

• The target is about 5% less damage for hybrid DPS specs than for pure damage classes. It is a design target the team gave on the podcast, not a number in the client or in patch notes.
• Only Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks are pure. Every other class counts as a hybrid: Warriors, Paladins, Priests, Shaman and Druids.
• Warriors are hybrids because they can put on a shield, switch to Defensive Stance and tank.
• Healing done by a damage spec counts. A Shadow Priest who heals the group while doing damage has that healing counted as part of its output.
• It is about damage specs. The team said everyone's damage, healing or tanking should be competitive; hybrids should instead be missing some of the tools and buffs pure classes have.
• Not every fight. The developers said a hybrid can still have fights where it is amazing, just not every one of them.
• Players are split. Large forum threads object to Warriors being called hybrids, and Priest and Druid players worry groups will pick pure classes over them. Others are fine with a small gap. Blizzard hasn't followed up on the forums.

"I'm not a believer in the hybrid tax"

Asked to expand on the hybrid tax, a developer, whom players on the forums identify as Principal Designer Kris Zierhut (the captions don't name speakers), started by rejecting the old idea:

So I'm not a believer in the hybrid tax. I don't think it works particularly well. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (20:21)

He explained what went wrong the first time. In original World of Warcraft, hybrids did less damage but made up for it with utility and buffs only they had. Players were still unhappy about the damage, so it was raised again and again, and hybrids ended up with both the damage and the toys:

Hybrids did less damage, but had all kinds of cool utility they brought and special buffs they brought, things that only they could do. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (20:32)

And it ends up being the hybrids are the better class. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (20:57)

What Forever is aiming for instead is that every role is competitive, and hybrids pay with missing tools rather than with a big damage gap:

the better place to go ... is everybody's damage or healing or tanking is competitive, but the hybrids often are missing tools and buffs that the pure specs have. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (21:00)

Shadow Priest: why the healing counts

The next developer, whom players identify as Senior Game Designer Aidan "Zirene" Moon, said the argument often mixes up two meanings of "hybrid": a class that can fill more than one role, and a spec that does damage and healing at the same time. For a class that can switch roles, he said the team doesn't believe in a hybrid tax. A spec that heals while it deals damage is different:

if we consider a spec like shadow priest, we can't give them top damage and give them healing at the same time. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (21:49)

your throughput does involve how much healing you're doing as well. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (22:08)

In practice this is Vampiric Embrace Vampiric Embrace. In the Forever beta client it heals your party for 20% of the Shadow spell damage you deal, for 30 seconds. Blizzard counts that healing as part of what a Shadow Priest brings, even if you never look at it on a meter. So a Shadow Priest doing a little less damage than a Warlock is, in the team's eyes, roughly even once the group healing is added.

The number: about 5%

Then came the figure. The captions don't mark a new speaker here, and players on the forums credit it to Kris Zierhut:

we think the right numbers around 5% less damage on our ... hybrid DPS specs Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (22:20)

pretty much everyone who's not a hunter, a mage, a rogue, or a warlock is a hybrid, right? If you can do more than one combat role, then you have to pay just a little bit for it. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (22:30)

What that means for you: if a Mage, Rogue, Hunter or Warlock with the same gear and skill does 1,000 damage per second on a boss, the target for a hybrid DPS spec is around 950. Over a two-minute boss fight that is about 6,000 damage, a small gap, not a different tier. The developers also said it is an average across fights, not a cap on every one:

it costs just a little bit, not a lot. You can still have those fights you're amazing on. It's just not every one of them. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (22:48)

Speculation. The 5% is a target the team gave in a video, not a confirmed number. Damage tuning lives on Blizzard's servers, so we can't see it in the client files, and no patch notes mention it. The level cap is 30 in the beta, so nobody can measure level-60 damage yet. Treat the 950-of-1,000 example as an illustration of the target, not a measured result.

Who counts as a hybrid

The pure classes and the Warrior are named in the video. The specs in the last column are our reading of "hybrid DPS specs"; the team didn't list specs one by one. Smite builds aren't named either, but a damage Priest that can heal is a hybrid under the rule they gave.

Why Warriors count

The developers saw the Warrior objection coming:

And warriors may say that's unfair. We're not really hybrids. Yeah, but you can strap on a shield, go defensive stance, and save the day. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (22:39)

So a DPS Warrior pays for being able to grab a shield and tank when a group needs it, the same way a Feral Druid can go Bear Form and off-tank. A few minutes later the team gave Warriors their own strength to make up for it: sustained cleave. Paladins weren't given Divine Storm and Feral Druids weren't given a Cat Form Swipe (Swipe is a Bear Form attack), so Cleave Cleave and Whirlwind Whirlwind make the Warrior the class for fights with several bosses or lots of adds.

I want warriors to be the kings of cleave damage. That is their strength. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (25:01)

A budget: every buff takes something away

Earlier in the same section the team explained that each class has a damage budget, so bosses take about as long to kill as they did in 2004 and 2005. They said they have raised the budget for hybrids so they aren't bad:

we've brought up the budget on all these hybrids so they're not bad Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (19:36)

every time we give them a buff, we're going to have to take something away to keep that number balanced the way it should be. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (19:44)

The example was the Druid. The Wrath buff should raise Druid damage by about 2% at level 60, and the team said it will probably take Druid down a notch somewhere else later to make up for it. So if your hybrid gets a buff, expect a trade somewhere, not a step past the pure classes.

Hybrids won't be strong healers in a damage spec

Just before the hybrid tax question, the team was asked whether Feral Druids would get bonus healing like other melee hybrids. The answer was no, on purpose: they want you to need a healer and other players.

I've been conspicuously not giving the hybrids really strong healing powers. Blizzard, Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (17:58)

That is why Maelstrom Weapon Maelstrom Weapon only speeds up Lightning Bolt and not Shaman heals, and why Retribution Paladins didn't get similar talents. The client agrees: Forever's Maelstrom Weapon reduces the cast time and mana cost of your next Lightning Bolt only.

What players are saying

Speculation. This section is players' opinions from Blizzard's forums, not Blizzard's view. No Blizzard employee has posted in these threads, and as of October 8 we found no Blizzard follow-up on the forums.

• Warriors say they aren't hybrids. Warriors Are Not a Hybrid Class has passed 290 posts. Players argue a DPS Warrior in DPS gear can't really tank, so it shouldn't pay for a role it doesn't fill. Another thread argues the tax will put Warriors off tanking while leveling and make the tank shortage worse.
• Priests and Druids worry about invites. Shadow Priest players ask why a group would take them over a Mage or Warlock if they do less damage. Smite Priests expect a big tax because they can still heal, and some ask for a talent that gives up healing to escape it. Druid players point out their mana already has to cover both damage and healing.
• Some players want it. One thread argues Druids, as the most flexible class, should be the lowest damage, and others say a 5% gap is too small to worry about.
• Some think it repeats an old mistake. An EU thread, Hybrid Tax: A repeated mistake, argues pure classes also bring utility, so raids will stack pure DPS and bring hybrids only for buffs.
• People want a clear definition. A thread asks Blizzard to clarify why the class definition (no tax) and the 5% for hybrid DPS specs seem to say different things.

What we're watching

Damage tuning will show up as changes to spell and ability numbers in new builds and in Blizzard's development notes. We compare every build with the last one, so if hybrid damage is changed you'll see it on each class's changes page, such as Warrior changes and Priest changes. For everything else the class design episode covered, see our write-up of podcast episode 2.

Sources

• Speed Running Classes ft. @sodapoppin | Episode 2 - The WoW: Forever Podcast (World of Warcraft, YouTube; hybrid discussion from 17:58)
• Need some clarification on Hybrids (player thread, Blizzard forums; names the speakers)
• Blizzard Clarifies "Hybrid Tax" and Pure Classes (player thread, Blizzard forums)
• Warriors Are Not a Hybrid Class (player thread, Blizzard forums)
• Categorizing Warriors as a "hybrid" class is a mistake, and it will deepen the tank shortage during leveling (player thread, Blizzard forums)
• Smite priest-avoiding hybrid tax (player thread, Blizzard forums)
• Druid Ultimate Hybrid Class Should Be Lowest DPS (player thread, Blizzard forums)
• Hybrid Tax: A repeated mistake (player thread, Blizzard EU forums)
• Vampiric Embrace and Maelstrom Weapon (ForeverDB, from the beta client)