Limited B-solubility in fcc-TiN poses significant challenges to the applicability of Ti-B-N-based hard coatings. In particular, excess B tends to segregate at the grain boundaries instead of being fully incorporated in the fcc lattice. Although increasing the B content enhances mechanical properties such as hardness, forming excess amorphous grain boundary phases can significantly reduce fracture toughness. Compared to TiN, we observed an increase of 10 GPa in hardness (up to 36.9±1.8 GPa) but a decrease in fracture toughness of roughly 25 % (down to 2.1±0.1 MPa*m0.5). Assisted by ab-initio DFT calculations, we previously demonstrated that additional Ti (to deviate from the TiN–TiB tie-line) is required to fully incorporate more B (up to 8.7 at%) in the TiN lattice while minimizing B-rich amorphous phases. Here, we expand this research by adjusting the metal sub-lattice through Ti-, Cr-, Al- or Zr-addition to a Ti-B-N compound target (50 at.% Ti, 40 at.% N, and 10 at.% B). Our study highlights the key-role of kinetics in non-reactive deposition processes to overcome the thermodynamic limits of B-solubility in TiN. Through changing the stoichiometry by knowledge-based metal addition, we propose a general strategy to enhance the B solubility in transition metal nitride-based thin films.