Pain Conduit: class guide and playstyle

What does Pain Conduit bring to a party?

Role: Damage / condition manipulation. Core idea: Turns carefully managed damage and conditions into tactical resources.

Make the survival calculation before accepting another source of harm. Coordinate healing and condition handling with the party, and separate deliberate self-cost from avoidable incoming attacks. The class rewards knowing when to stop building the engine.

How do you unlock this class?

Campaign unlock; exact digital requirements not yet independently checked.

How should you build around its strengths?

Begin with repeatable damage and a manageable defensive plan. Add condition interactions only when the hand and equipment support their consequences. Select upgrades that preserve a useful turn even when the preferred condition is absent.

1. Count deliberate self-cost and expected incoming damage together.
2. Apply the damage or condition interaction only when survival and follow-up are practical.
3. Use support or recovery before another resource-building turn becomes lethal.

Which cards are named in digital sources?

These names are corroborated by official digital announcements. Their current level, full wording and unlock requirements should be checked in the in-game Codex.

• Infection Purge — official digital reference.
• Delayed Malady — official digital reference.
• Blood Ritual — official digital reference.
• Wave of Anguish — official digital reference.

What commonly goes wrong?

Blood Ritual cannot be assumed to permanently remove a condition that another character’s active engine continuously applies. A transfer can also disable a recipient’s beneficial immunity state or change action ordering; read both heroes’ active effects before confirming.

Where should you go next?

Read the Pain Conduit build framework, compare party composition, and review card economy before committing to a long scenario.

Evidence boundary: Class alias and broad digital combat role confirmed by publisher announcement; exact 1.0 card text, perks and unlock path require Codex verification. Build is editorial guidance, not hands-on testing.

Sources and version notes

Researched on October 16, 2026 for the digital edition. Strategic recommendations are editorial advice; they are not represented as hands-on testing. Refer to current in-game tooltips when a patch changes an interaction.

• Official Frosthaven announcements and patch notes — Digital: 1.0 features and earlier patch-confirmed names. Historical fixes do not prove current bugs.
• Cephalofair official Frosthaven FAQ — Tabletop ONLY: class mechanics and rules context; not a claim of exact digital implementation
• Frosthaven asset index — Tabletop ONLY: seventeen class names and source asset identification, no digital numeric parity
• Arc Games Legacy of the Algox press release — Digital: Algox update and added classes
• Patch Notes 0.31755 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Patch Notes 0.31984 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Hotfix 0.12.2 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Patch Notes 0.12.1.29652 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Patch Notes 0.31582 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Patch Notes 0.12.29862 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Patch Notes Hotfix 29497 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.
• Patch Notes 0.31273 — Primary official digital announcement; historical patch facts require current-version context.