Okay, just picked him up with gold (was going to get the full hero/skin/mount bundle but.... eh).
There is a greater than 100% chance he'll get buffed in the next patch. He just doesn't feel... worthy. He doesn't do any damage, which I guess is fine, as he's intended to be a Tank, but he's not particularly durable either, as his armor doesn't kick in till he's at such a low level of health that he's going to die soon regardless.
I'm thinking maybe change his trait to something like 1 armour per 1.5% health missing, so it caps out at 50% around 25% health remaining... instead of 1% health remaining. Then buff his health a little, and maybe increase his healing a tiny amount.