Weapon/Shield upgrade paths ?

Anyone know of any weapons or shields that get extra bonus if you take them down specific upgrade paths.. I read somewhere that the server gets some kind of bonus down one of the paths and also the effigy shield but ive yet to find any info on that..

?

The server get a diffrent item description if it has fire or chaos, but I doesn't change anything except adding fire damage.

Also, effigy gets more stability with crystal, more magic defense with magic, more fire defense with fire. However, lightning and divine do nothing.