Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-29729973-20170427014916/@comment-29068459-20170914054439

In Nico's defense, I must say that the whole "his power is draining thing" has been exaggerated out of context. In BotL, Nico did faint from summoning twelve undead warriors. But he only had one year of experimentation with his powers, with his only guide being a dead son of Zeus.

In TLO, it drained Nico to deactivate Percy's skeleton guardians. But guys, the fact he even did that at all is darn near flabbergasting. The had been installed at their post by Hades, one of the sons of Kronos, and Master of the Underworld for countless millennia. Shadow travel was also shown to be quite draining here, but Nico only had one year of practice. Not to mention that the molecular deconstruction and reconstruction of a human being would be a lot more energy consuming than that of an energy being (i.e. a god). A good demonstration of Nico's power Level is how he summoned a large army of undead during the Battle of Manhattan, and how he shrugged off Hades' Helm, despite being right next to it (Percy was further, and it nearly tore him apart).

Nico's powers grew drastically between the series. While as of SoN he is a little bit behind Percy, Percy has two years of experience on him. Yet by BoO, Nico proves to be equal in power to both Percy and Jason. But, one must remember, the other two were at 100%. Nico was massively affected by seeing Tartarus for what it truly is, torture, and the jar. In fact, he even mentions he could have traveled the Athena Parthenos in 2 or 3 jumps by himself (across the Atlantic Ocean).

In BoO, we see Nico is as strong as ever in someoning the undead, can telekinetically control bones, can ghostify any mortal/part mortal with a single touch, and can manipulate sleep (cause others to fall asleep, and navigate the dream scape).

But you may say "but Percy is by far the better combatant." One more thing. In BoO, Nico knocked unconscious six Roman legionaries (who were trying to kill him and Will). Yet Nico was at a point where he "couldn't summon a wishbone without fading." The divine side of him was at an all time low, which would have killed his physical energy, speed, and precognition. So Nico did this while being practically human! This is why Nico is the most powerful modern demigod.