More info would be helpful in your request, namely:
What level are your PCs?
What classes are in the party?
How does their wealth compare to average (aka How many magic items do they have)?
How experienced are the player?
Just in general, however, 7 players vs 1 NPC means the action economy is heavily in the PCs favor. Your boss is going to have to be very very strong in order to challenge them. Err on the side of making him too strong, and then you can make tactical "mistakes" in battle if you realize you made him too good.
In terms of "parry," the Duelist prestige class has it as a class feature. A substitued that is somewhat close is Crane Wing for unarmed melee. You could adapt the mechanics to include weapons too.
Clerics with improved invisibility cast on them as henchman make for excellent boss fights. also give the "boss" full hps not the Monster Manual standard
Have the invisible cleric remove all negative effects and heal the bad guy every round but not engage the PCs. This is always a good battle. Add additional henchmen/archers to target their spell-casters.
no offense but unless the players suck that duelist you posted will get murdered by a party of 5 level-17 pcs without them breaking a sweat
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If you refuse to abandon the 'singleton' bad guy theme, then you're on the right track by giving him such a high initiative. You don't want this guy going 5th, after taking a beating from 4 other PC's, acting once, then taking a beating from 3 more PC's...only for the round to start over, and receive another beating from the first 4 PC's all over again. 200-300-400 hp won't do anything when they are all getting first, one attack, then full attacks all to his single (and very likely) standard attack.
So, to keep him alive long enough to do anything:
1.) The battle needs to take place in a location of his choosing.
2.) The area needs to have an effect he can capitalize on (think desecrated for undead).
3.) Give him several expendable, preferably free action use, items that can have an impact on the party of make him harder to deal with.
4.) Give him an item that he can use at range to test and strain their defenses (necklace of fireball works on a full attack with enough beads?).
5.) If you had been willing to take levels in Rogue, you could have increased his lifespan substantially via talents such as Another Day, Redirect Attack, Hide in Plain Sight, Slippery Mind, Defensive Roll, Improved Evasion, Resiliency. You also have access to extremely useful things like Knockout Blow, Rumormonger, Unwitting Ally and Weapon Snatcher. Rumormonger alone (and a way to protect the guy from scrying) could very much swing the fight far more in his favor by adjusting how the PC's prepare for him (which should be -completely wrong-).
6.)Caltrops, high ground, anything to boost his saves, starting the battle off pre-buffed with long duration buffs and perhaps a means that they are reinstated on him every X rounds, an intelligent item and an escape plan all can make this guy *so* much harder to deal with-.
7.) High AC and high saves help but the gunslinger won't care about either. He'll one-shot this guy, crit, and end the fight. You'll need specific answers for *just* him. Displacement and blur type effects that provide miss chances are good (against most everyone). Darkness (if he uses an intelligent item that can see in the dark, even better), and hazardous terrain that he comes equipped for handling (lake of acid but he's got acid immune boots and waterwalk, or you made him a ninja so he can run across and attack without the need of magic or items....). Throw this in a cavern where the rocks keep falling but have a wind wall type effect up that protects him from but not the party and you're probably about as set as you're going to get.
8.)Damage reduction is a full attack actions worst enemy. He'll need some.
Hope these ideas help. I know how players can be and I've had experience running singleton enemies versus a group. It is hard by default, made more difficult by the personal experience and number of options from in game experience available to each character/player. If you aren't going to be cheating, then you'll have to make your bad guy extremely prepared. Probably moreso than his intelligence score could ever allow (and therefor you're still cheating). ^_^
I like the idea of a Invisible Cleric. I am going to have to plauge my players with that in the near future.
Invisible Cleric PLUS Anti-Life Shell would be a huge pain in the butt.
In fact Anti-Life Shell is great for any BBEG who needs to keep the melee away.
Anti-Life shell plus Dread Wraith with Spring Attack? Forget about it...
A BBEG is a problem the players have to solve. Like any other problems, sometimes there is only one solution, and sometimes there is many. One way to make your players feel that your setting is more dynamic is to make sure your villains aren't so one dimensional that the only way to ever deal with any of them is to kill them. For example...
The socializer may or may not be a threat to the party, but he is usually an immediate threat to something they care about. You talk to them until you can invoke a change of behavior. Encounters with a socializer usually follow one of two types.
The first type is the non-violent encounter. There is a threat but words alone are enough to solve the problem. In most cases, this is not the BBEG, but rather just an NPC.
The second type is one that will include combat as part of the "discussion". An example of this type of BBEG would be Saren Arterius from Mass Effect, Magus from Chrono Trigger, or Darth Vader from Star Wars.
Take the time to get to know the motivations and personality of a BBEG who is going to talk to the party reasonably because this conversation needs to be an interesting one. It is a pivotal moment and you need to be prepared. Give the BBEG strong motivations for doing what he is doing, but make him conflicted in some way. Give the players some clues as to what sort of conflicts he may be experience are prior to the final encounter. This could be done be finding journals, having previous meetings, talking to people who were close to the BBEG in the past, etc. Once the encounter has begun, give additional clues as to how the BBEG is feeling. He should start off confident.
As the players make progress in the conversation, let the BBEG continue to say words that match his original position, but show him hesitate, take time to ponder, or lose his cool. Anything to give the players a sign that they are making progress and getting through. When combat starts, don't let the conversation die. In fact, although it can be difficult, try to time the beginning of combat at the most pivotal moment in the conversation, so that the most progress seems to be taking place during combat. This gives the players a feeling of escalation and heightened drama.
This BBEG is going to put himself in a position where it will be very difficult to stop him without hearing what he has to say. He wants to speak. He'll do whatever it takes to force you to listen. That means he is going to use whatever tools he has to create advantages for himself. Don't make it impossible though. You aren't trying to railroad your players. But let the BBEG make use of the items and abilities he has available and make sure he uses the terrain to his advantage whenever possible.