Board Thread:The Heroes of Olympus/@comment-29729973-20170602033139/@comment-29068459-20170918173440

Nico's dependence on his powers has actually been decreasing exponentially. In BoTL, power was all he had, as he had no formal training unlike the likes of Percy, Jason, and Thalia. His only contribution to the Battle at Camp Half Blood was those 12 skeletons, because he would have died if he actually went into the fray.

However, he has been becoming a superb warrior at an excellent rate (if you remember he only really started his sword training after Minos lost influence over him, because before that he was only concerned with getting his sister back).

Nico has honestly been advancing at a rate very similar to that of Percy. It is just that Nico is 2 years behind, and Percy simply happened to be at the center of Two Great Prophecies, and thus had a lot of challenges thrown at him. But being able to cut through dozens of Monsters by himself whilst having to use a hand to hold Diocletian's scepter, and doing this whilst in a very weakened state (from Tartarus and torture) is beyond anything that Piper might be able to do.

Piper is an above average sword fighter. She'll become one of the top in time (because Riordan loves his characters to be OP). But it will kind of be like Annabeth - one of the top, but leagues behind the actual top (Thalia, Reyna, Percy, Jason). However, Nico most definitely will join the top ranks.