Light spoilers for Lies of P below
Anybody familiar with the Souls games knows that the big monstrosities you fight are only scary till you have to fight a human-like enemy. Lies of P is no exception to this rule, and the Mad Donkey, a sub-boss you will fight along the road to Krat City Hall, is no exception. While the enemy isn’t hard to read, he doesn’t really change up his combat style. He hits hard and moves fast to drain you of your health, sometimes before you can react, so here we will discuss how to take this enemy down and progress.
You meet the Mad Donkey while crossing the bridge to the Krat City Hall, with him banging on a stagecoach containing a certain creator of yours, wink-wink. He is dying and is rather upset at the situation in the city when you encounter him. Attempting to pass will cause him to take his weapon out, a saw blade not dissimilar to one of the starting weapons from Bloodborne, and he wastes no time attacking you. Unlike the previous boss you will have encountered, the Parade Master, this enemy is fast, able to swiftly close the distance. This being said, he also has a big blade he swings around, which telegraphs his attacks easily for you.
To compensate for this, many of his attacks will be off-rhythm. One attack he has involves pulling his blade over his head and holding for several moments before he attacks. This opens him up for several attacks, but also makes it hard to predict when to perfectly guard his attack. Like most enemies, his primary move is to close the distance, then swipe his blade in a series of attacks from left to right, which are much easier to gauge the window, but lack a strong cohesion as they are strung together.
What all this does is create an exploitable opening for this enemy, and moments it might be worth eating an attack to get in a few of your own. Most attacks are easy to dodge out of, and the dodge can often go through attacks, giving you a moment he is caught in the end of an attack while you are off to the side. Since the attacks are easy to read, requiring a wind-up to begin, once you have the timing down, you can unleash an attack or two, then quickly back out. While Mad Donky is fast at chasing you even if you back out, only the follow-up attack to this should be an immediate threat, one that your dodge can easily move you away from again. Once out of that, you’re dealing with the standard combo of slashes that follow up, which by this point should be some handle on.
Thankfully, the Mad Donkey doesn’t change up his fighting style at the midpoint of combat; in fact, it becomes slightly easier to deal with him. This is because he becomes more susceptible to staggering past half health. Going in with a charge attack since, while not the fastest in his slashes, he has the capacity to cancel them if you are not careful. There are moments he will simply walk around you at a slight distance that you can use to charge up, which are just out of his range to throw you into a hit that staggers him. Eating an attack to pull it off is worth it since the follow-up critical hit will drain a large chunk of his health. Another way to go is using your fable art if you have it saved up, give a massive hit, and then a critical follow-up, which, for me, left him close to dead right there. Either way, continuing to mix your dodges with pressing the attack should finish him off before long.
Once you have defeated the Mad Donkey, you are rewarded with a few items to make it worth your while, the most important of which is an increase to your pulse cell count, so now you can heal more before needing to hit a Stargazer and reset everything. You will also receive the Mad Donkey’s costume, both apparel and headgear, so you can dress like your fallen foe. In addition, you get a hidden moonstone, good for upgrading your weapons, and the Krat City Hall Key so you can progress further.
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