Afflictor has two dominant loadouts, four Reapers, or four AM Blasters.
Four Reapers is very strong, more so with Entropy Amplifier, enough to kill anything or nearly so with one salvo.
Four AM Blasters with Entropy Amplifier is much stronger than what Harbinger can output.
Harbinger with three AM Blasters or Phase Lances is not that overwhelming. Quantum Disruptor makes those attacks unblockable, but it would not harm most things bigger than a destroyer very much. Harbinger is best used for cleaning up stray frigates and destroyers (and weak cruisers like Colossus 3).
Afflictor was Harbinger lite, when Harbinger had synergies. Now, Afflictor is the more annoying replacement to Harbinger. (More annoying because I dedicate more fleets slots to more Afflictors to do the same job Harbinger used to do, and I do chain-deploy them if necessary.)
For Reaper Afflictor this means simply attacking vulnerable ships with front-shield (or semi-suicidal point blank Reaper attack with goal to cripple, if you miscalculate and kill - you die yourself).
Against some annoying Radiants, I was willing to sacrifice Reaper Afflictor if it meant Radiant goes down with it. It is only 50k or so to build one, and I could build ten per month, and still have lots of income to spare. (I am grinding alpha cores to colonize more planets far beyond normal limits.) Or, I can Restore each one and still shrug the cost off.
If 2 Reapers is too many then the Shade should also be a problem.
Not only Shade, but Gremlin as well. Gremlin is much slower, but maybe those with Defensive Systems 3 and UI can make it fast enough.
I miss old brawler loadouts with old cloak. New cloak makes brawling loadouts suicidal. (600 range is not enough.) The only useful way to make new cloak phase ships useful strike or glass sword loadouts, which means all Reapers or AM Blasters if possible. Doom is an exception due to mines distracting enemies and being able to use mines while phased.