Mad Donkey is the second boss in the game, which you fight on the Elysion Boulevard Bridge. His moveset reflects P’s, being the first human fight you come up against, so there are a lot of easy ways to stun and parry him.
Like all of the other Lies of P bosses, the Mad Donkey can pose a serious threat, but as an early-game boss, he’s more of a tool and tutorial to teach how to combat some of the tougher enemies later in the game. As always, the first thing you need to consider when going into a boss fight is your weaponry and play style, so it’s a good idea to go through Lies of P’s best weapons to make sure you’re all good on that front.
As for who the Mad Donkey is personally, he’s a victim of the puppet frenzy in Krat, but not due to being a puppet. Instead, it’s because he’s human. The remaining humans in Krat have to fight tooth and nail to survive against hordes of puppets that want to kill all things with a pulse. When you stumble upon the Mad Donkey on the Elysion Boulevard Bridge, he’s trying to get his hands on Geppetto, believing him to be accountable for the terrible things happening in Krat.
The Mad Donkey is the perfect boss to learn how to navigate future boss fights against humans. In essence, they have a similar moveset to you and are some of the most agile individuals living in Krat. The Mad Donkey happens to wield a fairly large sword, which can cause a considerable amount of damage should it hit you.
Luckily, you are just as agile as him, if not more, so the plan here is to dodge and punish. Straying to the side and dashing behind the boss for a backstab is a surefire tactic to win this fight. Backstabs in Lies of P are just like those in Dark Souls and Elden Ring, dealing significantly more damage than a standard or even a heavy strike.
The other thing you can do against the Mad Donkey is get some practice on how to perform the perfect party. When you complete a perfect parry, you weaken your enemy’s guard and leave him in a staggered state when that’s low enough. If you do that to the Mad Donkey, you can obliterate his health bar with a stagger attack. Don’t forget, if you happen to have abrasive items on you, be it fire or electric, that adds even more damage to your attacks and will leave the Mad Donkey with a status effect after a few hits.
Whichever tactic you choose to use, the Mad Donkey won’t stand in your way for long, and you’ll be reunited with Geppetto, and that’s where things begin to pick up in the world of Lies of P. Stalkers are also weak to various status effects, so this is a good time to make use of the electric and fire-based items you have.
As with any other human fight you face throughout the game, you don’t get a special ergo that gives you access to boss weapons and amulets. Instead, you get a basic ergo item that gives you 1,000 ergo, though you also get a couple of thousand for defeating the boss himself.
All in all, Lies of P’s Mad Donkey isn’t much of a challenge, but that’s not really his purpose. He’s more there to prepare you for the likes of The Survivor, Red Fox, Black Cat, and more. Unfortunately, you can’t use Lies of P Star Fragments for this fight, but it’s still a good idea to discover the best area to farm them. They’re one of the most valuable items to own in Krat.