Abstract The fabrication of a bionic super-hydrophobic metallic surface without any low-surface-energy modification is investigated, in which picosecond laser ablation, electropolishing and electrodeposition are used sequentially. The micro-cone structure is formed via laser ablation, and then the nano-pyramid structure is electrodeposited on the micro-cone structure, resulting in a hierarchical structure that is important for achieving super-hydrophobicity on an intrinsically hydrophilic material surface. In this study, the surface morphology and material removal mechanism are discussed with respect to the laser-ablated surface and the subsequent electropolished/electrodeposited surfaces. The condensation experiments results show that both types of surfaces are associated with relatively high contact angles (CAs) at normal temperatures, and the CAs are 147° and 160°, respectively. However, the CA on the laser-ablated surfaces at low temperatures decreases to as less as 107°, which may be owing to the easy transition from Cassie state to a metastable state or even the Wenzel state, leading to a degraded hydrophobic surface. By contrast, the CA on the sequentially processed surfaces still maintains at 150°, which should be attributed to the densely distributed nano-scale structures. The sequentially processed surfaces also show excellent long-term durability. Furthermore, this technique has been employed for fabricating super-hydrophobic surfaces with CAs > 151° and the sliding angles (SAs) < 8° on the inclined surfaces with the inclination angle α < 30°. Overall, the technique presented in this study supply a practical and reliable method for realizing the stable Cassie state and hence super-hydrophobicity on metallic surfaces. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Electrodepositing dense nano-Ni-pyramids on the laser-ablated micro-cones. • Sequentially processed surface is associated with better Cassie-state stability. • The stable Cassie state is attributed to the dense nano-Ni-pyramids. • The sequentially processed surfaces possess long-term durability. • The sequential processing technique is applied on the inclined surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]