I think that sliders still have a place and can be used in someplace and even on home pages BUT those are special unique cases. For the most part, the traditional use of sliders on websites is to be avoided. Why? Just google: Effect of sliders on conversion.
All that said the usual go to plugin solution for WordPress when you needed a slider was to go for the premium plugin
Slider Revolution » Innovative, responsive WordPress Slider and Hero Plugin but now there is a free alternative that can even be described as a “Rev Slider Lite” called: Crelly Slider and it’s free to use. It does not have all the bells-and-whistles as Rev Slider, but I’ll use it when the situation calls for it in the future.