Bloom Cankers that refuse to open are almost never a bug. The cankers sitting right next to an infected Angel Comb stay sealed on purpose until you clear the smaller infections connected to it. If you upgraded your tool and suddenly found these cankers permanently closed, that is the game working as intended, not a softlock.
Quick answer: The two cankers directly on an Angel Comb (the Bloom Core) cannot be destroyed until you find and clear every connected Bloom Node along the purple roots first. Follow the roots away from the comb, clear all of those cankers, then return, and the comb cankers will open.
Why cankers next to the Angel Comb stay closed
An Angel Comb infected by the Bloom becomes a Bloom Core. That Core is wired to a small network of Bloom Nodes, which are juvenile combs linked through the Titan Rockbore root system. The Core cannot be cured while any of its Nodes are still active. So the cankers attached directly to the comb will remain shut and indestructible, no matter how you aim or how close you get.
This is why players often see the cankers open on a first visit, then find them sealed after returning. The early open state can be misleading, but the rule is consistent. Clear the Nodes, and the comb cankers unlock.
Open cankers vs. armored cankers
There are two different reasons a canker won't break, and they need two different tools and approaches.
| Canker type | Behavior | How to destroy it |
|---|---|---|
| Open canker | Glowing core stays exposed behind green petals | Hit the glowing core with the standard Sonic Resonator |
| Armored canker | Snaps shut when you swim close; armor blocks the blast | Use the Axum Feedback Resonator and fire from a short distance away |
| Comb canker (on the Bloom Core) | Sealed and indestructible regardless of distance | Clear all connected Bloom Nodes first, then it opens |
Armored cankers instinctively close up when an unfamiliar organism gets near. Their armor resists the Sonic Resonator entirely. To break them, you need the upgraded Feedback Resonator, which lets you launch a blast from outside their closing range so they stay open long enough to be hit.
How to clear the armored cankers with the Feedback Resonator
Step 1: Equip the Feedback Resonator and back away from the canker until it pops back open. The right distance is just before your targeting reticle turns green.
Step 2: Hold the fire button to charge the blast fully. The meter fills on both sides of your reticle, and the shot only works at full charge.
Step 3: Aim at the exposed core and release. If your shots are hitting the small parasite creatures around it instead, adjust your angle slightly and try again from that same range.
Finding the Bloom Nodes you missed
The Nodes are usually nowhere near the comb itself. The most common reason people get stuck is missing one or two that are tucked far away or hidden inside wreckage.
Step 1: Start at the Angel Comb and follow the purple roots outward. Each branch can lead to another canker, and they often run over cliffs, into caves, and deep below the comb's depth.
Step 2: When a root seems to dead-end into the ground or a wall, keep going in that direction and think vertically. Several Nodes sit above or below where the root appears to stop, so swim straight up or down to find them.
Step 3: Check ship wreckage along the route. A frequently missed canker is buried under a wreck (often to the north or east of the comb). Open the wreck with your Resonator and swim inside to reach the last root piece covered by the debris.
How to confirm it worked
Each time you finish a Node area, your PDA tells you the treatment was successful. Once every connected canker is destroyed, the Bloom in that zone clears, and the two sealed cankers on the Angel Comb finally open. Destroy those, and the comb is cured, giving you access to its Adaptation.
If you have cleared everything and the comb cankers still won't open, you have not actually found all the Nodes yet. The voice prompt telling you to return to the central stalk can fire before the network is fully done, so a missing canker, usually one inside a wreck, is the cause far more often than a real glitch.
Common reasons the cankers still won't open
Reloading the save or restarting the game does not fix sealed comb cankers, because nothing is broken. The fix is always finding the remaining Nodes. Work through these checks before assuming a bug:
- You are too close to an armored canker, so it closes before your shot lands. Back up until just before the reticle turns green.
- You are using the base Sonic Resonator on an armored canker. Those require the Feedback Resonator instead.
- You have not cleared every Bloom Node. The comb cankers stay sealed until the full network connected through the roots is gone.
- A Node is hidden inside wreckage or sits well above or below the obvious root path, so it is easy to swim past.
Once the last Node is gone and the comb cankers shatter, the area treatment completes, and the Angel Comb opens up for good.