Heroes and troops help, of course. However it is possible for FTP players to place top 10 in some of these events, especially in rare. They may have to save up flasks and mats for 2-3 months in order to compete but it can be done.
In the Knights event in April 2018, my teammate Echo (Ellilea on the forums) placed 8th in epic, and Haylc (who is FTP I believe) placed second. Echo was FTP until she quit the game, she was the one of the unluckiest people on TC20 and in summons that I have seen. She didn’t have any event heroes including Jackal and Falcon, and those helped a lot in that event. I had better troops, better heroes, and at least as many tries and I placed 15th. That doesn’t seem much different, but the winning score of that was 631K, Echo had 618K, and I had 601K. I could have had tons more tries but I would not have beaten the top 10 scores. Since then, I think people are using more mono teams so the scores may be higher but the relative results would have been the same.
Several months ago Zero won all three events and had level 1 troops in epic and rare. There is no way I could have gotten any of those scores in a year of doing those levels. I don’t think I am a bad player, but I don’t have elite skills. The advantages of flasks, troops, and heroes don’t quite push me over.
I’m found a screen shot. Andrei is there and Echo is too. Here is a quote from the closing thread here: Time for me to go & my parting feedback
Ironically, she complains about the game becoming ptw, and that it was difficult for her to reach for #1 but it DID show that she reached top 10…unless she was lying about being FTP, which I didn’t witness in six months with the alliance.
"With 36 flasks accumulated over 3 months I was able to reach #8. If I got knocked out of top 10 that time I’d probably feed Elkanen to Leonidas for ultimate saltiness (it was before Leo’s buff).
But I know that without refills, Falcon, Jackal, I could never compete for #1. I’d need more luck and more skill than anyone with the right composition. And that’s not a fair competition, simply put. Not to mention, without refills, my luck-factor is severely gimped and I do not think my skill is superior to the top players. Could I reach their level? Maybe. I will never find out. Because even if I did, I’d never climb to their level to know, as my hero stable is subpar, and my compositions are limited."
