NBA Live 19: Fastest way to level up

The One offers you the chance to create your own superstar player, and is the cornerstone of NBA Live 19. Just like in real life though, you don’t exactly start at the top. When you initially create your player you’ll have an overall rating of just 70 and generally struggle to make a significant impact at the top level. As you advance through the game, however, you’ll develop more skills and boost your OVR. So just what is the quickest way to level up on NBA Live 19?

Play at Rio Favela on the World Tour

The World Tour is a game mode that allows you to play on 14 different local courts from around the world, from Quai 54 in Paris all the way to Venice Beach. To begin with, you’ll have access to three different courts - Quai 54, Cherashore Park in Philadelphia, and the Hoop Dome in Ontario. To unlock more courts, you need to complete nine games of your own choosing. After this, you’ll have access to five more courts, including the famous Rio Favela (listed as Parque do Rio on your screen) in Brazil. 

Rio Favela is a basketball court with a backdrop like no other. Situated in Rocinha, the court is located smack bang in the middle of a group of colorful homes, giving it a unique feel. The court actually has a lot of cool cultural history, though that isn't particularly relevant in our quest to level up. Most importantly, this court will also be where you’re best able to advance your player, and quickly take significant strides towards becoming a superstar.

Rio Favela is a little smaller than your standard court, and on the World Tour in NBA Live 19 you play 3 on 3 instead of 5 on 5 as a result. Because of the smaller court size and fewer players on the court, these games tend to go faster than most, giving you the chance to level up quicker.

Once you unlock Rio Favela, select the first game, and then play it over and over again. The three players you’ll be playing against in this game aren’t very good, and even though your player will likely not be a superstar either by this point, you should be able to score and rack up stats relatively easily. 

While dominating at Rio Favela, you can either choose to try to unlock certain traits, or you can just look to rack up skill points. It’s certainly worth trying to do a little bit of both; some traits, like ‘sure handles’, can be unlocked relatively easily here. To get that trait, you need to blow by your opponent, dish out a pass to a teammate, and rack up an assist.

Skill points can be unlocked particularly quickly here too. Generally, you can gain around one every couple of games or so, meaning if you can get these games finished in three or four minutes you’re going to be levelling up extremely fast.

Compete on other World Tour courts

While repeatedly playing at Rio Favela is the quickest way to level up, there are, of course, a number of other ways to develop your player into a star relatively quickly. You'll earn plenty of points by playing on any of the courts on the World Tour, particularly Barry Farms, Cherashore Playground, Rucker Park and Hoop Dome. 

At these venues, a huge number of reward points are doled out for winning 5 games in 1 attempt. Combine this with the fact that accumulating basic basketball stats like assists, rebounds, and points, as well as dunks, helps you to level up faster, playing these courts is a double-pronged way to improve your player. 

You won't be able to accumulate these stats as easily as you will at Rio Favela, with these courts forcing you to play 5 v 5 on full size courts (and often against better opponents) and thus minimizing your ability to do as you please, but you'll still get plenty out of it. 

Live Runs

Another good way to level up quickly is to play Live Runs. These games allow you to team up with other CPU players and compete for dominance. The problem with these games, however, is that you’re at the mercy of other CPU players. You can easily find yourself teamed up with someone who never wants to give the ball up, or constantly misses shots after you find them open, which negatively impacts your ability to improve your player. That said, you will gain points simply for playing enough of these games, so while teaming up with bad CPU players can slow your progress somewhat, it won't completely halt it, and your player will still benefit from playing in these games.

There are plenty of ways to level up in NBA Live 19, and if you play the game enough you’ll do so regardless. If you’re searching for the quickest way to do it though, follow the steps outlined above. Leveling up at the Rio Favela Court is like taking candy from a baby, so unlock it as quick as you can and spend a whole lot of time dominating.