Here are some tips on the mechanics

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/4m7d5g/killing_the_grand_sermonizer_spoilers/

Here is a video that shows the fight, this guy pretty much just wails on things. Skip to 5:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URDKEW2sMdU

Integral1900 wrote: »

Minor Spoilers, you have been warned

Basically the mistake folks may be making is they are trying to burn the boss down as fast as possible. It wont work with this one because there is a limit to how much damage you can do before the fight mechanic interrupts you and activates the time lock, my characters are not top end dps but have a fair bit of resilience and listed below is how I got through it with my magic sorc but the method below should work regardless of build. Bear in mind I'm of average ability on a good day lol. It is pretty stiff for a solo quest boss but very satisfying

1> NEVER run out of stamina, always leave enough to break free of the pinning effect of the time lock, if you are below half stam then switch to heavy attacks, never spend down to zero
2> Keep moving, this one will nail fragile builds to the ground if you stand still
3> When the time lock is active you will sometimes, but not always, be left only fighting the boss and not their minions, when this happens target the boss, the minions will just keep coming, only killing the boss will finish it
4> Most important, be patient, this fight will take time, there is no way round that, take your time and keep whittling away, they will fall eventually

I have the reflexes of a rubber duck, if I can do it I'm sure you can

Talking about the wrong boss, friend.
I almost made a very similar post.

ShedsHisTail wrote: »

Muma wrote: »

I can kill literally every one of her lackeys, but she is proving to be a real *** of a challenge.

Anyone have tips for a Khajiit nightblade?

Or is ganging up on her the only option?

I don't remember the Grand Sermonizer being all that difficult.

What part of the encounter, specifically, are you having trouble with?
It's pretty much a stab-stab-stab-interrupt/roll-stab-stab-stab fight once all the lackeys are gone.

The fact that she takes almost no damage from my hits while DPSing the *** out of me.

any way im stuck trying to beat solo bosses too

(unessary rant)

i feel like just quiting

As a stamblade, this is one of my least favorite bosses. It doesn't help that I first went up against her during one of the worst NB nerf campaigns of all time after the One Tamriel debut. Mind your resources in this fight, because if they drop too low, you're dead before you know it.

At one time, there was a significant problem with combat scaling between level 30 and level 40. That seems to be largely fixed these days, but you may want to avoid this fight if you're in that range. I've had an easier time on alts if I go in right after level 15 when I get the bow and bar-swapping. Or just wait and do it at a much higher level.

I tend to carefully kite the trash minions out into the chamber before the one she's in with a bow shot and finish them off bit by bit, then I can go in and deal with her and her two main minions alone.

Her AoEs are small, plentiful, and zig-zag around which makes avoiding the pools of "stupid" harder, especially if your connection lags.

This really is a boss fight that could stand to have its mechanics cleaned up a bit. It's not that it's bad, but there are too many ways for it to become just a mess of randomness. Some of the reports that she can be facerolled may well be because of this -- if the mechanics turn to mush it can either go very well or very badly for the player. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not.

This is, honestly, one of the older DLC bosses -- a lot of them since then are much better and more fun even if they're overall harder. I'd love it if some of these old ones were tweaked -- not to make them eaiser, but just cleaner in terms of mechanics so that when you wipe it's less of "Huh, WTF?" and more "Hmmm... that didn't work. Maybe if I try..."