Metal nitride films with high hardness, high wear resistance and excellent thermal stability provide feasible approach to improve the tribological properties and high temperature anti-oxidation ability of mechanical components. However, when serving in in high temperature harsh environment, the physical vapor deposition (PVD) nitride films are usually limited because of the softening and plastic deformation of metal substrates. The duplex coating system consisting of oxidation-resistant PVD nitride films and hard cermet coating open opportunities for solving this limitation. In the present work, the Cr3C2-NiCr/TiSiN-CrAlN duplex coating consisting of a thick Cr3C2-NiCr support layer and a thin TiSiN-CrAlN alternating multilayer film were prepared on stainless steel substrates by combining high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and multi-arc ion plating technologies. The microstructure, surface morphology and mechanical properties of the Cr3C2-NiCr/TiSiN-CrAlN duplex coating were in detail characterized and analyzed by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, scratch instrument and nano-indentation tester. Meanwhile, the tribological properties of single TiSiN-CrAlN film and duplex coating were evaluated using a reciprocating ball-on-disk tribometer at different temperatures. Results showed that the TiSiN-CrAlN film deposited on stainless steel and Cr3C2-NiCr coating has clear multilayer structure, including a CrAlN adhesion layer and a TiSiN-CrAlN alternating multilayer film. The duplex coating displayed dense and uniform microstructure and a well-bonded interface was observed between Cr3C2-NiCr coating and PVD film. The total thickness of the TiSiN-CrAlN film deposited on the Cr3C2-NiCr coating surface was about 6.7 μm, which was significantly lower than its thickness deposited on stainless steel surface. The crystallinity of the top TiSiN-CrAlN film was affected by the special surface microstructure and morphology of Cr3C2-NiCr support layer. Introduction of the Cr3C2-NiCr support layer significantly improved the mechanical properties of the duplex coating. Its nanohardness and elastic modulus were (37.3±2.6) GPa and (506.1±10.6) GPa, respectively. The adhesion strength of duplex coating is significantly improved compared to the TiSiN-CrAlN multilayer film on the stainless steel surface. Compared with single TiSiN-CrAlN film, the duplex coating exhibited superior tribological properties at different temperatures, which was mainly due to the high load-bearing capacity of Cr3C2-NiCr support layer. When the temperature raised to 900 ℃, the friction coefficient and wear rate of the duplex coating were 0.44 and 3.13×10?5 mm3/(N.m), respectively. Furthermore, the analysis of the friction and wear mechanism indicated that there were two different tribological behaviors depending on the temperature. Below 500 ℃, the Cr3C2-NiCr/TiSiN-CrAlN duplex coating showed a high and fluctuant friction coefficient but a mild wear rate because the sliding process was governed by abrasive wear and a slight oxidation took place. At 700 ℃, there was no obvious fatigue wear due to the support of the Cr3C2-NiCr support layer, and oxidation wear occurred. At 900 ℃, the oxidation wear dominated the wear process due to the strong oxidation of sliding surface. A large amount of tribo-films mainly composed of TiO2 and Cr2O3 were produced, which led to the low and stable friction coefficient but high wear rate.