For physical surface modification of a complex workpiece, the incoming particles are difficult to arrive at the inclined surface of the complex workpiece due to self-shadowing effect. This will result in the non-uniformity distribution of structure and properties of the films on different surfaces of the complex workpiece. In order to mitigate the self-shadowing effect and improve the uniformities of film structure and properties, high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) was used to fabricate TiN films on 316L stainless steel substrate with different inclination angles. During deposition, the electrical characteristic of HPPMS was recorded by an oscilloscope, and the plasma component was diagnosed by optical emission spectroscopy. The structure, mechanical and corrosion properties of the TiN films deposited on substrate with different inclination angles by DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS) and HPPMS also were studied respectively. Compared with DCMS, the results showed that high ion/atom ratio and large ion flux in HPPMS led to stronger ion bombardment and adatom mobility, which caused densification of the TiN films. The uniformities of hardness and corrosion resistance of the TiN films deposited on the substrate with different inclination angles were improved by HPPMS. And for HPPMS, the longer pulses at same duty cycle could efficiently mitigate the self-shadowing effect and improve the hardness and corrosion resistance of the TiN-coated stainless steel. •The TiN films deposited at different inclination angles by DCMS show bad uniformity.•The uniformities of film hardness and corrosion resistance can be improved by HPPMS.•The longer pulses are helpful to mitigate the self-shadowing effect at same duty cycle for HPPMS.