Since compiz fusion is long deprecated, I stick to Xmonad with almost no visual changes from the stock install, other than tweaks to make some colors lower contrast.
KDE still has some of the most popular effects built-in, including wobbly windows, desktop cube, magic lamp when minimizing/maximizing, blurring semitransparent windows, "exploding" windows when you close them. They're built in with no extra software required - just go to the "Desktop Effects" settings.