A highly erosive and abrasive wear resistant composite coating system is described in which an intermediate layer of substantially pure tungsten is deposited on a substrate. An outer layer is then deposited comprised of a mixture of tungsten and tungsten carbide, with the tungsten carbide consisting of W.sub.2 C, W.sub.3 C or a mixture of both. The thickness of the intermediate layer is sufficient to confer substantial erosive and abrasive wear resistance characteristics on the composite coating system. The ratio of the thickness of the intermediate layer to the thickness of the outer layer is controlled and is at least above 0.30 in the cases of W+W.sub.3 C, W+W.sub.2 C+W.sub.3 C and W+W.sub.2 C coatings.