I think it'll be more of a mind game. The opponent expects you to hit them with the rifle, so they jump. Boom, you get them with an air pistol and I'm assuming it links into one of his ground pistols too. Using a move that lowers their hitbox? Low shots. I think NRS had it in mind that you couldn't just rape the shit out of them with unblockables because let's be serious, people would complain, and it'd be a little OP to take so much life and them not be able to block.
It could also really open up his offense/counter-offense game. People try to get in after your trait's activating, assuming you'll try and zone, then you catch them with an armored B3/F3 into a full combo punish, or even hitting them with a mix-up to catch them off guard(Being neutral is still really good to be honest, especially for a zoner.) Depending when you hit, you may or may not do a FULL punish with guns included, but even if it's still debuffed or just about to debuff, the combo will last long enough that it won't be too big of an issue, and considering he sends them full screen again, he can turtle it out pretty well too.
Not to mention he can really take a mean life lead (on paper) as I think this is more or less an offensive tool more than defensive, so once it's been deactivated, I think it'd be very easy to lame them out since they still have to get to you(most do), and the chip damage won't even compare to the damage you got on them. I see a few situations where a poorly timed trait will completely fuck you over but hopefully it won't be too bad.