I'm currently using a eth CA Infinity on mercenary, and keep running out of mana when I cast my lightning. I can teleport around just fine with 1 point in warmth (18+ warmth w/ all gear). Is there any way to mana sustain without compromising my lightning res penetration. I could do Insight but then way less minus light res.

Gear is as follows:

Hoto, spirit, Coh, griffons, maras, travs, chancies, arachs, 2 bks, 6bo cta w/ bo spirit, got an anni, storch, gheeds.

Merc: Infinity eCA, Vamp Gaze (Upgrading to eAndys at 83), eAP Fort

156 str for spirit
Rest of points into Vitality
0 into energy or dex

This post was edited by lfbh on Sep 15 2020 08:45pm

-DTM jewel
-Hard points into energy
-Better CTA
-Obv more mana based gear

These will make it more manageable.
Hard to make real suggestions without knowing what gear you have.

Skill points into tele to reduce mana cost (seems like this is fine though)
Stat points into energy
Sojs

Can also try looking at guides/asking in Diablo 2 Discussion: https://forums.d2jsp.org/forum.php?f=21

This post was edited by Forgiveness on Sep 15 2020 08:39pm

This. Could you give us a rundown of your gear

I don't think I know enough about lightning sorc builds

I advise you to post your question in this category where users will be more apt to provide you with relevant answers

Strategy & Guides

Otherwise you can try to search the internet, I'm sure you can find builds or videos that will give you more information.

Gear is as follows:

Hoto, spirit, Coh, griffons, maras, travs, chancies, arachs, 2 bks, 6bo cta w/ bo spirit, got an anni, storch, gheeds.

Merc: Infinity eCA, Vamp Gaze (Upgrading to eAndys at 83), eAP Fort

156 str for spirit
Rest of points into Vitality
0 into energy or dex

This post was edited by lfbh on Sep 15 2020 08:45pm

Hmm I would say magefists or frost burns. Also at least 1 soj
Mf/mana scs can help too

Drop BK for soj's
Consider dropping chancies for frost burns as well as travs for silks
Allocate 30-50 vit to energy

I'd start there and see how that does otherwise you'll have to sacrifice damage.

/edit
Oh and this may seem odd but you can stop using a nm def merc for cold aura and switch to prayer merc for sustain to stay alive.
Has its ups and downs but can help depending on your play style.

This post was edited by King Atrhur on Sep 15 2020 08:55pm

I realized what the problem was. I was using energy shield, so every time i took a little bit of damage my mana went to 0.

G G

This post was edited by lfbh on Sep 15 2020 09:15pm

Change:
bulkathos rings to sojs
coh for enigma

This should be enough with some mana potion now and then. If you want a little more help with mana you can change wt for Silkweave for +5 To Mana After Each Kill.