A network element includes multiple ports and forwarding circuitry. The ports are configured to serve as network interfaces for exchanging packets with a communication network. The forwarding circuitry is configured to receive a multicast packet that is to be forwarded via a plurality of the ports over a plurality of paths through the communication network to a plurality of destinations, to identify a path having a highest latency among the multiple paths over which the multicast packet is to be forwarded, to forward the multicast packet to one or more of the paths other than the identified path, using a normal scheduling process having a first forwarding latency, and to forward the multicast packet to at least the identified path, using an accelerated scheduling process having a second forwarding latency, smaller than the first forwarding latency.