Upgrades are gems, that can be bought in the store and are used to increase certain attributes of weapons and clothing items. There are two types of gems, weapon gems are used to increase attributes of weapons and equipment gems can be used to increase attributes of clothing.
Gems used on clothing items can increase armor, Force points boost and xp boost. Gems used on weapons can increase certain attributes based on the weapon type. If the gems are used on a melee weapon they can increase speed and damage, when used on a grenade they can increase effect radius, when used on main weapons they can increase the magazine size, rate of fire damage and recoil. Any attribute can only be upgraded to stage 10. There are 5 kinds of gems, medium gems, big gems and elite gems. Different gems need different levels to be used and increase the item attributes to higher attribute levels, however, the elite gem is needed to increase an attribute to the maximum level 10.