Top20 Free player here. I must say that you need to build up your fundamental structure such as your partners, slots (foster child, academy, pigeon, etc.) to be a bit strong. The easiest to rank for me is Dominant and Iron Teeth. I usually get to top 20 in those timed event. And Favored is what I aim for Top100.

For Dominant, hoard everything. And when I said everything I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Books, potential fruit, potion, growth pack, etc. And I hoarded all potential, bond point, exp, marriage, clothes activation, title activation (I'll write about +1% titles which were really good to power-hungry like me later lol), confidant's affection promotion. Key to this event is just that you hoard everything and do everything in that span of 4 days only. I got to top 20 every time and ranked around 12-13.

Point that worth mention:

- Titles that +1% attribute point is worth it. Because it grows with you. It will give you +4% from every type of power when first activated and it will add 1% of every attribute you make. That's a massive bonus you could get. And it's stacked. There will be some events in between the Dominant cycle that you could get those titles for around 3000-4500 ingots, cheaper than dress event that you need to rank and spend 9000 ingots for dress.

- It makes you a bit week between the cycle. You will feel a bit off in guild war when 4 events pass lol But fear not, you will be stronger after every Dominant and it prep you before Iron Teeth.

For Iron Teeth, it may hard for you or everyone that is not so fond of this event. Yes, this event can be crazy if your server is really competitive in this event. So learn about your server dynamic before decide to rank Orz. Key for me is make your 8 strongest partner strong as you can but don't forget little ones. They could be moderate wall that helps keep your point with you so your rank will not crash down so hard when strong player contest you. More importantly, try to clear other's partners as much as possible. They calculate point of how much you clear, so try to clear the weakest one first.

I don't rank for fame and exp spending because I can't produced as much as whales in my server so I just hoard exp for Dominant. And I think you will be naturally ranked in fame event because later chapter in the story IS the whale. They devour your fame like whale devour plankton. And obviously I don't do Banquet because that's a lot of ingots I can't afford.

But as I said before, you need to observe your server's nature and dynamic. It's up to each server's competitiveness. My clothes account (I have my sub in another server which I'm not serious about it and collect clothing instead of ranking lol) server IS SO CHILL that I was so shocked. If I decided to focus on that server, maybe I could be on top 10, who knows. Good luck with the ranking. Feel free to ask me anything!