A method and system are described to multicast with an adaptive dual state. The system receives multicast traffic over a membership tree including a first plurality of nodes connected in a first topology destined for a plurality of multicast members of a first multicast group. Next, the system determines a rate of multicast traffic that exceeds a predetermined threshold based on the receiving the multicast traffic. Next, the system generates a dissemination tree including a second plurality of nodes connected in a second topology to reduce a number of hops to communicate the multicast traffic to the plurality of multicast members of the first multicast group. Finally, the system forwards the multicast traffic to the plurality of multicast members of the first multicast group over the dissemination tree.