NBA 2K25: Easily get 12 stars on Heart of a Dynasty (Origin Story Achievement)

This is my first guide, so be gentle on the feedback! 🙂

Heart of a Dynasty is not a hard game mode, but I know some people struggle with this, especially in getting all 12 stars (and 5,750 VC total!)

Here’s a quick few tips:

• Set quarters to 6 minutes (default is 5) at minimum. I found this makes getting the goals knocked out easier without making everything drag on too long.
• Change your passing settings to allow the pass button to ask a player to make a cut (I believe it’s the bounce pass button, change it from skip pass). This makes getting assists easier as the player will try to get open and cut to the basket.
• This is controversial, but set the difficulty to rookie. You’ll notice that the achievement doesn’t care what difficulty you’re on, and the last 2 stories are probably the most challenging to complete. You’ll still get the full VC from each of these, just remember to flip it back after you’re done so you can play on your normal chosen difficulty.
• Don’t try to do this as you boot in as a 60 OVR; you’ll especially get destroyed on the 3rd and 4th challenges. Make sure you’ve at least gotten to 75 OVR (and ideally higher) if you want to have the easiest time with this section.
• Aside from the first challenge, don’t fret about teammate grade, just focus on getting the goals knocked out. You’ll get higher teammate grade as you score buckets anyway.

GOALS

• Win and outperform Patrick in Teammate Grade
• Win by 10 and outperform Patrick in Teammate Grade
• Win by 15 and outperform Patrick in Teammate Grade

This is probably the easiest one on the list, I didn’t even have to drop the difficulty for this one. Just make sure you get open (your teammates often are low rated and will clank shots). Call for pick and rolls with your LB or L1 button, and shoot open shots. To beat Patrick, just make sure he doesn’t get any open looks; lock him down with your Intense-D button (LT/L2) and just always put your hands up. Since he’s not highly rated either, you should have no problem shutting him down. His teammates are also bad shooters so you can probably rush up court after a miss, call for a pass and get some easy dunks/layups.

GOALS

• Win
• Win and get 4+ assists
• Win and get 7+ assists

This one’s also fairly easy, although now you’ll want to dish the ball and ask your teammates to shoot with X/Square (they won’t ALWAYS listen but they often do). The best way to run this is to do the opposite of what you did in scenario 1; you should be setting screens as much as possible. Pass the ball to a teammate, set up a screen on either side, and more often than not, one of your guards or forwards will likely shoot an uncontested jumper. You should do some scoring on your own so that you don’t lose the game outright, but feed the ball, set a screen, and it should be no problem for you as well.

Remember that cut to basket change control I told you about in the intro? It helps a lot here…

Getting the 7th assist can be a little tough since your teammates often defer to you, but that’s the reason you wait til the shot clock is low, dish, then set the screen: easy assists.

GOALS

• Win and outscore Izan Almansa
• Win and outscore Izan Almansa by 10
• Win and outscore Izan Almansa by 15

This was the first one that presented a challenge to get all 3 stars. Winning the game is pretty easy because they basically just feed Izan the ball all the time and the other guys are poorer shooters. But winning with the point differential was the challenge. If you’re a 3-ball guy, take a lot of good uncontested threes like you did probably in the first scenario, and basically don’t let this guy get any shots off. Even well-defended, he will make shots that will anger you. Intense-D, don’t worry about his teammates, just focus on him solely every time he gets down the court; stay in front of him, don’t go for steals, just get the hands up with the right stick on every shot and don’t let him waltz in for easy buckets.

On pro difficulty I was able to outscore him by 11 as my best, but on rookie I think I scored 20+ points more than him, which is why I recommended that in the intro. You’ll still get the 1500 VC at the end.

GOALS

• Win and successfully complete Trash Talk with Austin Reaves
• Win by 5 and successfully complete Trash Talk with Austin Reaves
• Win by 7 and successfully complete Trash Talk with Austin Reaves

The dialogue here is fairly cringey, but I’d choose the response that says you’ll beat him by at least 5, because you’re trying to do that anyway (rather than trying to limit his points).

You only play one ‘quarter’ on this open run, so you need to make every possession count. Your teammates are good shooters and will take shots, so you need to demand the ball, teammate grade be damned. Take threes if you’re that kind of player, or get into the paint and mash your guy to the rack. Even on higher difficulties I was able to win and limit Austin to < 5 points, but I could never shut down the rest of that team since they’re all NBA players and all-stars. Again, Rookie is your friend here, and you’ll get that juicy 2000 VC at the end once you complete it, as well as pop the achievement of Origin Story.

Now go out there and get that achievement!