Slight Necro here so my apologies.
As a person who hunts Drifters, killing the lancers are rather easy. They do hit harder than a typical highsec rat so i typically hunt for the spawns in a T3C for the sake of faster travel. Spawn in groups of up to 5, no scram, nothing too nasty.
After they’re dealt with, ~15 minutes later, Drifters spawn and begin to roam. Typically its Cassandra(cruiser with DD) which in a well tanked Marauder shouldn’t pose much threat. Ive seen up to 4 in a group with 1 or 2 lancers in support.
Occasionally, Battleships show up. They do point, they do hurt, snd they do Doomsday. I dont think the highsec ones are as bad, as i theory craft based on Pochven Polemarkos Battleships. But needless to say, you will likely need a mobile depot with a refit to buffer to tank said doomsday, then back to active.
With that said, there are ways to avoid the death ray…but whats the fun in that?