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Hybrid classes are classes which excel at more than one of the core PvE roles: tank, healer, or damage dealer (DPS). Realistically, no character can tank, heal, and dps 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 have collected the gear required to serve that function.
Definition of a hybrid
There are different views on how many possible functions are needed to consider a class a "hybrid". The most limited definition here would be any class that has three or more different possible functions they can be good at, given the correct talent spec and/or gear. This definition would only consider Paladins, Shamans, and Druids as hybrids. Some consider hybrids to be any class that has two or more functions that they can spec for – their "token group role" (healer, tank, or damage dealer) and a side role, usually taken as helpful in soloing or in PvP. If the definition is widened in this manner, Warriors, Death Knights and Priests are added to the list of hybrids.
3-way/4-way hybrids
These three classes are considered the truest "hybrids", as each of them can cover the three roles of tanking, damage, and healing. Shamans are able to tank some instances, though it is rarely seen. In addition, Shamans and Druids have both ranged and short-distance DPS specializations.
Druid
The Druid is a hybrid of tank, healer, melee, and ranged damage dealer.
- Advantages
- Good, Great or Excellent healing abilities, depending on spec and gear. Feral druids inherently have an expanded mana pool but no mana regeneration enhancements. Balance druids have an expanded mana pool enhancements to both damage and healing, but less mana regeneration than a restoration druid.
- Arguably, one of the more powerful buffs in the game,
[Mark of the Wild], providing a good general boost to most classes and specs. - 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), and will render a druid immune to
[Polymorph]. The act of shifting will also remove any host of Root and Snare effects from the character. - Tree of Life Form likely has the most mana efficient heals in the game, and is specifically geared to raid healing.
- Tank abilities viable for raids, optimal for single targets; sub-optimal for a very large number of targets.
- High-level talents in each tree provide a raid healing or DPS aura.
[Rebirth] is the only resurrect which can be cast in combat.- Druids also have decent crowd control in the form of entangling roots, which can last for up to half a minute.
- Disadvantages
- Lightly armored in caster gear, just a little tougher than a cloth wearer in humanoid form. However,
[Barkskin] combined with [Dire Bear Form] or [Moonkin Form] may provide enough damage mitigation (and time) for a main tank to re-acquire a mob. If you are in PvP combat, this same switch will often cause players (especially melee dps) to switch targets out of frustration with the greatly increased armor and hit points. - [Rebirth], a combat resurrect, is on a 20 minute timer.
- Druid crowd control also has its disadvantages, because entangling roots is sometimes broken by damage to the target. [Hibernate], another form of crowd control is extremely efficient on beasts and dragonkin, and [Cyclone] cannot be interrupted but is short lasting.
Paladin
The Paladin is incorrectly thought of as a hybrid of a warrior and a priest. Paladin tanks mainly rely on reactive Holy damage as the primary source of threat, secondly on direct holy damage, and functions by the threat "multipliers" of 
[Righteous Fury] and 
[Holy Shield] rather than added threat effects like 
[Sunder Armor]. A Paladin heals by spamming efficient direct heals, and not by using HoTs or group heals.
- Advantages
- Armored in plate, paladins can take a lot of damage, and are widely regarded as the single hardest class to kill.
- Ability to heal and resurrect makes them sometimes vital to a party.
- Long-lasting, efficient single-target healers.
- Wide variety of important buffs for all classes.
- Several auras with various beneficial effects for the party.
- One of 3 classes capable of allowing quick recovery from a wipe with their [Divine Intervention] (the other being Warlocks and Shaman).
- Able to use [Divine Protection] and [Divine Shield] to protect themselves from incoming damage or cast [Blessing of Protection] to protect other players from physical damage.
- Disadvantages
- Very little in the way of ranged attacks.
- Have relatively few protection against casters.
Shaman
The Shaman is a hybrid of healer, melee and ranged damage dealer, with limited tank ability.
- Advantages
- Versatile regardless of build - able to switch tank/heal/dps roles in battle, and not just through spec
- 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.
- Arguably, one of the best multi-target healing spells in the game, [Chain Heal].
- Disadvantages
- Cannot generally tank past regular Pre-BC 5-man dungeons.
- Jack-of-all-trades, but frequently overshadowed by other classes in "pure" roles.
- Not as Mana efficient as non hybrids.
2-way hybrids
Three classes, Warrior, Death Knight, and Priest, can perform two of the three roles in instance group with the right gear and spec.
Priest
The Priest has the ability to spec and gear for flexible healing through the Holy and Discipline trees; priests can also spec into high single-target DPS and party "mana battery" skills through the shadow tree.
- Advantages
- Considered an overall healing class, the priest is a good healer for just about any situation.
- Shadow priests provide great single-target DPS, as well as healing with the [Vampiric Embrace] talent, mana recovery with [Vampiric Touch], and talents that increase shadow and magic damage taken by targets.
- 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] (necessary for priest to reach their true DPS potential), has no healing aside from [Vampiric Embrace]
Warrior
The Warrior can spec into tanking mostly through the protection tree or into DPS through the Arms and Fury trees.
- Advantages
- With good gear, spec and skill, can tank well in most encounters.
- Have numerous life-saving abilities when tanking.
- Good countering abilities against [Fear].
- Disadvantages
- Highly gear dependent in order to have good performance.
- No effective ranged attack. (Though they have several abilities to help them get in range of the enemy.)
- Vulnerable to snare effects.
Death Knight
The Death Knight can tank or dps, which mainly depends on what type of gear they are wearing. It is a common miscoception that only Frost specced Death Knights can tank. In fact, all their three talent trees have both tanking and dps talents. It is viable to spec any of the tree for tanking or dps, although the detailed distribution of the talent points maybe different.