This paper is devoted to the study of tribological characteristics of standard grades of high-speed steels (HSS) under conditions of friction on stainless steel 12H18N9T without the use of a lubricant. The grades of HSS selected for research differ in the value of thermal entropy, which is considered as an integral characteristic of their chemical composition. The tests were carried out according to the "pin-disk" friction scheme. The following differences in the characteristics of the friction process have been experimentally established, depending on the value of the thermal entropy of the HSS. Frictional interaction of high-entropy HSS was characterized by increasing the thickness of dissipative structures over time. The forming intermediate layer has a shielding effect, protecting the surfaces of rubbing bodies from destruction, but at the same time it has a large shear resistance, due to which higher coefficients of friction were recorded. The process of friction of HSS grades with low values of thermal entropy is characterized by the convergence of contacting bodies over time. For this group of materials, lower coefficients of friction were recorded against the background of a significant change in the surface micro relief relative to the initial state.