It applies armor, hence it gets value. It may not be much, but it literally rewards you for missusing it. Low value its not the same as not value at all.
It applies armour that expires within 3 seconds, hence no value.
Dude how is this hard. If you apply armor, even for a second, it is value. Like, literally.
There is nothing subjective about this. You use an ability, it does something good. Even if you absolutely waste it, it still does something good.