To avoid playing the hurt animation twice (once local, once when SPacketEntityStatus arrives), add a check:
Deploy as an optional client-side tweak, enabled by default for all PvP-oriented 1.8.9 modpacks or utilities. Appendix A: Sample code repository (GitHub): [link placeholder] Appendix B: Before/After video demonstration: [link placeholder] hit delay fix 1.8.9
net.minecraft.client.network.NetHandlerPlayClient#handleEntityStatus Case 2 → Entity#performHurtAnimation() . To avoid playing the hurt animation twice (once