Knowing how to clear Bloom Cankers and save Angel Combs is crucial to unlocking important Subnautica 2 adaptations, better enabling you to explore your alien surroundings and progress the Subnautica 2 story. Disinfecting these sick coral structures in Subnautica 2 can seem like a confusing task at first, as deadly fish attack from all sides while you try to follow underwater tendrils. However, once you have the right tools for the job and know where to look, it’s a straightforward process.
Subnautica 2 Angel Combs hide these DNA-altering Adaptations in their core, which, when accessed, allow you to survive the ocean more efficiently. It’s likely you’ve already run into one or two healthy Angel Combs on your journey so far, which have imbued you with the ability to breathe pressurised air and digest alien fauna like Water Slugs and Geordies without getting sick. Our guide explains how to cleanse the sick Angel Combs in the later game, thus leading to other, more complex adaptations.
How to heal Subnautica 2 Angel Combs
The Subnautica 2 Angel Comb sickness is caused by sizable floral growths known as Viral Cankers, which are attached to the Angel Comb and its trailing titan Rockbore. To heal an Angel Comb, you must find eight Viral Cankers, six of which can be found by following the Rockbore to juvenile Combs.
These cankers can't be destroyed with your Multitool. For the first sick Angel Comb, you’ll need to craft the heavy-duty Subnautica 2 Sonic Resonator to destroy destructive Bloom Cankers. This must later be upgraded to a Feedback Resonator for later Angel Combs.
Finding Bloom Cankers
The difficulty in this quest comes from finding Bloom Cankers. Two will be found near the Angel itself, but they won't appear until you've cleared the sickness from three juvenile combs nearby. To find those, swim down to the base of the Angel Comb to its Titan Rockbore, which resembles a crab leg, and follow it until your reach the juveniles.
You’ll know you’re in the right place when your PDA pipes up to explain that the area is called a viral bloom, or when you see a comb that looks similar to the one in the image above.
Clearing blue Cankers
Close to the juvenile comb, you should see two glowing, mushroom-like clusters – these are the Bloom Cankers. To dispose of each canker, pull out your Sonic Resonator, aim at the node, hold the trigger, and release.
There will be two cankers at each juvenile, then two more will open up near the mother comb, for a total of eight. Your PDA will also tell you when you've successfully cleared each area. When you've cleared all eight blue cankers, you'll be able to obtain the heat tolerance adaptation from the first Angel Comb.
Clearing pink cankers
However, when you reach pink cankers further across the map, you'll notice they close up when you approach, thus preventing you from clearing them. This is where you'll need the Feedback Resonator upgrade.
You can fire the Feedback Resonator from further away, meaning you can aim at pink cankers when they're open. If you're too far away, though, you may find you have to shoot two or three times. I won't tell you here which adaptations you'll receive from these Angel Combs as it's a pivotal moment in your story.
Angel Comb and Juvenile Comb locations
While you'll probably stumble across Angel Combs while exploring your environment, you might find it harder to find some of the juvenile combs, even when following Rockbore trails. Here are some tips to help:
- Third Angel Comb - to the northeast of your lifepod.
- Follow each Titan Rockbore path until the water turns grey, this should be fairly easy.
- Fourth Angel Comb - under the Power Station.
- This time, each Titan Rockbore path is blocked. For the one that hits a wall, swim up, where you'll find a Cicada wreckage. Enter the wreckage to find this juvenile. Another is in a cave, while the third is underneath an Alien structure. Again, you'll need to swim up to find the entrance for this one.
More Angel Combs are coming later, as we get further through the Subnautica 2 roadmap, and we'll update this guide as soon as we find them ourselves!
While optional, we suggest unlocking the Wakemaker mobility tool for this process, as it lets you zoom around the ocean much faster and complete the job without taking unnecessary damage or running out of air. As with other tools in the game, unlocking the Wakemaker requires you to scan Wakemaker Fragments to unlock the Blueprint and then craft it at a Fabricator.
Subnautica 2’s aquatic setting is eerily vast and often dangerous. If you find yourself struggling to become one with the ocean, we’ve got plenty of guides to help you find your footing. No matter whether you’re struggling to stockpile resources like Subnautica 2 Lead or Gold, or are trying to smelt Subnautica 2 ingots for a new recipe, we’ve got you sorted. Plus, we’ll continue adding guides, so be sure to check back if you get stuck.
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